Offshore Wind
Offshore wind promises a future of clean, abundant energy.
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Seismic Airgun Blasting
Seismic airgun blasting threatens marine life, coastal communities, and local economies.
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Offshore Drilling
Opening new areas to offshore drilling poses dangerous and unacceptable risks.
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Overview
Oceana uses science and advocacy to drive policies aimed at stopping climate change. Our three current areas of focus are preventing offshore drilling, preventing seismic airgun blasting, and promoting responsibly-sited offshore wind energy.
Perhaps the gravest threat to our oceans and our planet is a changing climate. Unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are warming the planet and disrupting weather patterns, leading to flooding, melting ice, rising seas, droughts, and the devastation of ecosystems on land and at sea. Oceans are among the most effective buffers against climate change, but as more carbon is absorbed by the oceans they become more acidic, reducing their capacity for absorbing fossil fuel emissions. This acidification is killing shellfish and corals—vital components of the entire food web—threatening marine populations from the smallest polyps to the largest whales. Oceana is determined to help end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, the leading source of carbon pollution on the planet. We use science, advocacy, communications, litigation, and grassroots organizing to win policy victories that prevent the expansion of offshore drilling and seismic airgun blasting, and that promote the responsible development of clean offshore wind energy.
Victories
October 25, 2018
Oregon Governor Prohibits Offshore Oil Drilling Activities off the State
Today, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued Executive Order 18-28 directing state agencies to protect Oregon’s coast from offshore oil and gas drilling. The Executive Order specifically made it the official policy of the state of Oregon to oppose oil drilling activities from shore to over 200 miles off the state, and to prevent the development of any new infrastructure that would serve offshore drilling operations.
January 6, 2017
President Obama Denies All Pending Permits for Seismic Airgun Blasting in Atlantic Ocean
The Obama administration formally denies all pending permits to conduct seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean. Seismic airgun blasting, an extremely loud and dangerous process used to search for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean’s surface, was originally proposed in an area twice the size of California, stretching from Delaware to Florida.
December 20, 2016
President Obama Permanently Protects Important Areas of Atlantic Ocean from Offshore Drilling
The Obama administration moves to permanently protect important areas of the Atlantic Ocean from offshore drilling. Using his authority under section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President Obama is withdrawing 3.8 million acres in the north and mid-Atlantic Ocean from future mineral extraction, protecting 31 canyons that extend from Heezen Canyon offshore New England to Norfolk Canyon offshore of the Chesapeake Bay.
November 18, 2016
Oceana Celebrates Victory in Protecting Arctic Ocean from Offshore Drilling
The Obama administration made another historic move to decrease America’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels, this time protecting the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling. In the newly released final five-year program for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) removed the Chukchi and Beaufort seas for leasing from 2017 to 2022. This announcement follows a similar decision in March where BOEM removed the Atlantic Ocean from the five-year program following widespread opposition along the East Coast.
March 15, 2016
Oceana Declares Victory in Protecting the Atlantic from Offshore Drilling
The Obama administration made a historic move to protect the East Coast from offshore drilling. In the newly proposed five-year program for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management removed the Atlantic Ocean for leasing from 2017 to 2022. While Oceana applauded the Obama administration for listening to widespread opposition along the East Coast, it continues to urge the government to stop seismic airgun use in the Atlantic and not to hold new lease sales in the remote and unforgiving Arctic Ocean.
Take Action
TELL PRESIDENT BIDEN: END NEW OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING
News & Reports
Press Releases
Blog

November 15, 2022
Groups Renew Call for Biden to Finalize Drilling Plan with #NoNewLeases

October 12, 2022
Scientists urge the president to stop new offshore oil drilling
Reports
Around the Web
April 24, 2023
Source: National Fisherman
April 18, 2023
Source: Common Dreams
March 29, 2023
Source: Associated Press
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