November 23, 2015
OpEd: East Coast Leaders Tell Obama to Reject Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic
Below is an exceprt from an OpEd by Oceana Vice President for U.S. campaigns, Jackie Savitz. You can read the entire piece, posted on November 19th, on The Hill
Today, a group of business representatives, local government officials and coastal leaders from towns along the Eastern Seaboard arrived in Washington with a clear message to the president: They don’t want oil drilling off their coast, and they want to make sure their concerns are being heard in the White House.
For the first time in U.S. history, the Atlantic coast is at risk of being opened to industrial offshore drilling. Coastal industrialization in the form of refineries, pipelines and trains could encroach on previously untouched beach towns. Marine mammals, like the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, could be bombarded with the noise from seismic airguns while they traverse their migratory routes or care for young in their calving grounds. Historically, where we have drilled, we have spilled, and drilling continues to be dirty and dangerous, so we can expect to see leaks, spills and yes, even explosions that take human lives, if we proceed with these plans in the Atlantic. We could see wildlife contaminated, fisheries shut down and tourist dollars disappear. We could see the end of a way of life for millions of people. We need only look to the Gulf of Mexico for confirmation of the risks.
But the people who live, work and vacation on the Atlantic coast are refusing to allow that way of life to be threatened. At least, not without a fight…
Read the rest of the piece on The Hill.