Stop the Expansion of Offshore Drilling
Overview
Offshore drilling leads to dangerous oil spills that kill marine wildlife, damage fisheries, and hurt coastal economies. Oceana mobilizes businesses, elected officials, conservation partners, and the public to oppose the expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling and spilling.
Offshore Oil Drilling’s Legacy of Destruction
Offshore drilling causes massive oil spills that kill animals, ruin beaches, and damage economies. These disasters put fragile ecosystems, and our coastal communities, at constant risk of catastrophe. From the Exxon Valdez oil spill that spewed 11 million gallons of toxic sludge into the ocean, to the Deepwater Horizon disaster — the worst marine oil spill in U.S. history — offshore drilling leaves behind a long-term legacy of destruction. The toll of drilling and spilling is devastating to human health, coastal economies, communities, and wildlife. There’s too much at stake to continue drilling our way to destruction.
How Oil Spills Impact the Economy
Tourism, recreation, and fishing are major drivers of coastal economies, especially along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and gulf coast of Florida. These coasts support more than 2.6 million American jobs and roughly $180 billion in GDP. Oil spills threaten all of that.
Demand for Gulf of Mexico seafood plummeted in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. White and brown shrimp, oyster, and menhaden fisheries closed. By 2020, the economic impact of the spill — which led to a decline in both commercial and recreational fishing, led to the loss of more than 25,000 jobs and $2.3 billion in economic growth. As of 2021, some Gulf fisheries species, such as white marlin, showed little to no recovery.
Offshore Oil Drilling’s Effects on the Environment
More than 7,300 oil spills occurred in U.S. federal waters between 2010 and 2022. That’s an average of more than one spill every single day. Toxic spills, and measures used to clean them up, threaten human health and marine life. Drilling in deep, remote waters, which oil companies are starting to do right now, only increases the risk.
Effects of Offshore Drilling on Marine Life
Oiled water can kill fish and their eggs and impact their ability to grow, reproduce, and swim. Animals that spend time near the surface where oil floats — like whales, dolphins, sea turtles and birds — are particularly at risk of ingesting or breathing oil. Oil can also be consumed by plankton, the base of the food web, eventually working its way up the food chain to the largest predators.
Offshore Drilling’s Impact on Ocean Plants and Habitats
Oil can increase erosion of the coastline because it, and the efforts to remove it, can damage or kill coastal plants and oyster reefs, which act as buffers against flooding and storm surges.
Abandoned equipment from offshore drilling operations also threatens habitats. Oil and gas companies are supposed to remove unused pipelines from the seabed, but the Government Accountability Office reported that the U.S. government has allowed a massive number of pipelines to be abandoned. Since the 1960s, more than 97% of all decommissioned pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico were left on the seafloor. There are enough abandoned pipelines around the world to more than circle the planet, and an estimated 14,000 wells currently sit uncapped.
Offshore Drilling’s Role in Climate Change
Campaign Victories
Campaigning by Oceana and our allies is reducing the prevalence of offshore drilling in our oceans.
Offshore drilling is an especially important target for emissions reductions. An Oceana study found that permanently protecting U.S. waters from new offshore drilling could prevent more than 19 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions — equivalent to taking every car in the nation off the road for 15 years.
And offshore drilling itself produces massive emissions. A recent report found that methane pollution from offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico was twice as high as previous government estimates, at 580,000 tons per year. Because methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, its climate impact is equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions from 1.5 million homes.
Burning fossil fuels is intensifying extreme weather events like hurricanes. In a vicious and continuous cycle, hurricane-caused damage to oil and gas infrastructure is a leading cause of oil spills.
How Do We Stop the Expansion of Offshore Oil Drilling and Prevent Oil Pollution?
We must protect U.S. waters from the expansion of offshore drilling. Healthy, clean oceans are the foundation for thriving coastal communities, livelihoods, and economies. We cannot gamble with coastal communities, jobs, and the future of our country.
Across the nation, states are opposing the expansion of offshore drilling, but there’s more we can do:
- The Trump administration should halt all efforts to expand offshore drilling.
- Congress must pass legislation to protect our coasts from the expansion of offshore drilling and its disastrous oil spills.
WATCH: 5 Most Devastating Oil Spills in U.S. History
Oceana marine scientist Maeve Arthur breaks down the environmental, economic, and health effects of spilling crude oil into the ocean.
Take Action to End Dirty, Destructive Offshore Drilling
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Reports and Fact Sheets
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the worst oil spills in U.S. history?
1. BP Deepwater Horizon (2010)
The explosion killed 11 people and dumped more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
2. Exxon Valdez (1989)
The grounded oil tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, killing more than 300 harbor seals, 2,800 sea otters, 250,000 seabirds, and up to 22 killer whales.
3. Refugio Beach (2015)
A pipeline servicing offshore oil platforms ruptured, spewing more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto the beach and into the ocean, killing hundreds of marine mammals and birds and costing the area $4.5 million in lost recreational value.
4. Huntington Beach (2021)
The 25,000-gallon oil spill caused substantial ecological impacts.
Q: Who regulates offshore drilling?
A: The Department of the Interior establishes a schedule of oil and gas lease sales for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) ensures safety and environmental protection in offshore drilling, but the Government Accountability Office has found the bureau’s enforcement capabilities inadequate.
Q: Is Trump proposing drilling off California, Alaska, and Florida?
A: In his first term, President Trump protected North Carolina to Florida from offshore drilling for 10 years. In January 2025, President Biden permanently protected 625 million acres of United States waters from offshore drilling.
In its second term, the Trump administration has since tried to illegally end those protections. Oceana and our partners have sued to prevent expanded drilling in these areas. In April 2025, the Trump administration initiated a new five-year plan to explore opening all U.S. coastlines — including protected areas like monuments and sanctuaries — to potential offshore oil and gas drilling and seismic blasting. After overwhelming public opposition, the administration released a draft proposed plan to expand offshore drilling off California, Alaska, and the U.S. Gulf Coast, including Florida. Before the latest comment period ended in January 2026, Oceana and its partner organizations helped secure more than 300,000 comments from across the country speaking out against the plan.
Q: How long does offshore drilling take to produce oil?
A: If a company buys a lease, it can take 10 years or more for the oil to reach the market. That’s how much time it takes to apply for and obtain approvals, explore viable sites, and start production.
Q: Will offshore drilling affect gas prices?
A: The U.S. cannot drill its way to affordable energy off America’s coasts. Expanding offshore oil and gas drilling won’t lower gas prices anytime soon, if it ever does, but it will put our coastlines, economies, and communities at greater risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Gas prices are driven by a volatile global market. When new areas are sold off for offshore drilling, they can take years to come online, if they ever do. For instance, even in the most optimistic scenario, drilling everywhere off California’s coast would only increase the global oil supply by .025%, with production likely not beginning for another decade.
Expanding drilling in U.S. waters today does nothing to protect Americans from price spikes now and only deepens our dependence on the fossil fuels that are caught up in this turmoil. What more drilling will do is increase the risk of irreversible damage to the oceans and coastal economies that millions of Americans depend on.
The solution isn’t more drilling — it’s accelerating the transition to clean, affordable energy here at home, so we’re no longer at the mercy of global oil markets.
Q: Can states stop Trump’s drilling expansion?
A: Yes, states can pass legislation that protects their state’s waters from expanded offshore drilling. Multiple states have introduced and passed bills to protect their waters permanently. California, Virginia, and Florida, for example, have all passed bills protecting their coasts.
Q: Do we need offshore drilling for oil security?
A: Expanding drilling in U.S. waters today does nothing to protect Americans from the global oil market. Selling off new areas for drilling our oceans can take years to produce, if it ever even happens.
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