Tell the Biden Administration No New Offshore Oil Leases

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

This could be the beginning of the end of offshore oil drilling.

The Biden administration has a chance to commit to no new lease sales for offshore drilling for the next half-decade — safeguarding crucial ocean habitats like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet from the harm and destruction inherent in offshore drilling.¹

We know that when we drill, we spill, and it’s not worth risking iconic sea life such as Cook Inlet’s beluga whales for just a little more oil. Send an urgent message right now at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=49724 telling the Biden administration: No new offshore oil leases.

It was just last fall that a pipeline breach off of California’s southern coast created an oil slick spanning 8,320 acres and leaving ecological catastrophe in its wake. Dead birds and fish washed ashore, and oil from the spill has also contaminated the Talbert Marsh wetlands, an ecological reserve home to great blue herons, pelicans and an endangered bird called the California least tern.²

And spills aren’t the only threat that offshore drilling poses to ocean wildlife. Incredibly loud blasts from the seismic testing used to find oil under the ocean floor can drive noise-sensitive whales, dolphins, sea turtles and fish away from important feeding or fishing grounds and disrupt important behaviors like mating or caring for their young.³

Parts of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as Cook Inlet in Alaska, are currently two of the regions most likely to see new offshore oil leases.⁴ But we have a chance right now to protect these critical areas and turn the tide on offshore drilling.

The Biden administration will be drafting a plan that will determine the fate of leasing in our oceans for the next five years. We need them to create a plan that will herald the beginning of the end of offshore drilling by planning no new lease sales in our oceans. Will you join us in calling on the Biden administration to protect our oceans from offshore drilling?

As if we need more evidence that offshore drilling does irreparable damage to our environment: One 80 million acre lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico had the potential to release 723 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — the same amount as operating more than 70% of all U.S. coal plants for a year.^5,6

Committing, as a nation, to no new offshore oil leases for the next half-decade would mean a cleaner future for our oceans, a safer future for our wildlife, and a healthier future for our planet.

Take action today to stop harmful offshore oil drilling in its tracks.

1. “National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program,” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, last accessed March 18, 2022.
2. “Massive oil spill sends crude onto Orange County beaches, killing birds, marine life,” The Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2021.
3. Andrew Sharpless, “Column: A deaf whale is a dead whale,” USA Today, October 25, 2012.
4. “2017-2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program,” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, last accessed March 18, 2022.
5. Maxine Joselow, “U.S. to hold historic oil and gas lease sale days after COP26,” The Washington Post, November 17, 2021.
6. Lisa Friedman, “Court Revokes Oil and Gas Leases, Citing Climate Change,” The New York Times, January 27, 2022.