Offshore drilling: we need more safety rules, not less - Oceana USA
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August 8, 2018

Offshore drilling: we need more safety rules, not less

The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 crew members and dumped more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Birds, fish, dolphins and other types of marine life were irreversibly harmed. The common bottlenose dolphin experienced the largest and longest-lasting dolphin die-off on record as a result of the spill. In 2016, to prevent a catastrophe like this from happening again, the federal government published a safety measure called the Well Control Rule. We believe this was a step in the right direction, but it certainly did not go far enough to protect our oceans and coasts from another oil disaster.

Now the Trump Administration is proposing to roll back the far too few safeguards that were adopted as a response to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. This proposal is dangerous and shortsighted. It’s common sense that we need more environmental safeguards, not less. Oceana has submitted a comment letter to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) asking them to strengthen the critical Well Control Rule and reject calls to eliminate safeguards put in place after Deepwater Horizon. Oceana’s comment also encouraged BSEE to evaluate ways to support our nation’s rapid transition towards responsibly sited clean energy – like offshore wind – to supply our nation’s growing energy needs.

Read Oceana’s full comments to the federal government here.