Offshore Drilling - Oceana USA

Offshore Drilling

PROTECT OUR OCEANS BY STOPPING THE EXPANSION OF OFFSHORE DRILLING

Dirty and dangerous offshore drilling threatens coastal communities across our coasts. The impacts of a single oil spill can last for generations, devastating coastal economies, destroying fisheries, and damaging ocean habitat. It’s not a matter of if there will be another oil spill, but when and how severe.

Offshore drilling also harms marine life at every stage; from deafening seismic blasts that can hurt marine mammals to disastrous oil spills that kill animals and cover our coasts with oil. And the fossil fuel emissions that offshore drilling produces are a primary cause of heightened ocean temperatures, sea level rise along our coasts, extreme weather like hurricanes, and ocean acidification — threatening wildlife, communities, and economies across the United States. The last thing our planet needs is more drilling and spilling. Ending offshore drilling is essential to protect our oceans and the communities that depend on them.

THE DANGERS OF SEISMIC AIRGUN BLASTING

Before offshore drilling even begins, the search for oil and gas puts marine life at risk. The oil and gas industry looks for fossil fuels deep below the ocean floor using seismic airgun blasting — a process that fires loud blasts of air into the water every few seconds, often for months at a time.

These explosions can harm whales, dolphins, and other marine life, and have also been shown to kill scallops and zooplankton. Seismic blasting threatens fishing and local economies that depend on healthy oceans. The noise can travel thousands of miles underwater, blanketing entire ecosystems in sound blasts. Seismic blasting is the first step toward offshore drilling, and it carries devastating consequences for ocean life long before a single drop of oil is extracted. Stopping seismic blasting is essential to protecting our oceans and the coastal communities that rely on them.

THE THREAT OF EXPANDED OFFSHORE DRILLING

Drilling in new, deeper, and more remote waters increases the risk of spills, which can irreversibly damage the ocean and threaten coastal businesses and people’s way of life. The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, and other massive oil spills in the past, show that no amount of oil is worth a legacy of destruction. Where the oil industry drills, it spills, but oil interests are still pushing for access to more. Coastal economies depend on oil-free beaches. Right now, the U.S. Department of Interior is drafting its next five-year plan that outlines where the U.S. will sell leases for future offshore oil and gas drilling, and as of now, nearly every coastline in America is on the table. That means your favorite beach may now be at risk of a deadly oil spill that could devastate economies and communities for years to come.

HOW TO DEFEND OUR OCEANS FROM OFFSHORE DRILLING

We must stop expanding oil drilling operations. Clean, renewable sources of energy, like offshore wind, when responsibly sited, constructed, and operated, are the way of the future. Oceana is working to protect U.S waters from the expansion of offshore drilling activities and help end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. Through science-based advocacy, litigation, strategic communications, and grassroots organizing, Oceana is campaigning to win policy victories that make sure our oceans stay productive, beautiful, and oil-free.

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