Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed three amendments to the FY20 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies funding bill (H.R. 3052) that block the expansion of offshore oil drilling activities in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico for fiscal year 2020. The House also voted for an amendment that would block funding for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to issue permits for seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Today’s vote to block offshore drilling underscores the strength and bipartisanship of opposition to dirty and dangerous offshore drilling. For nearly three decades, Congress blocked offshore drilling through appropriations measures. Now we’re counting on Congress to enact offshore drilling moratoriums again. President Trump’s radical offshore drilling plan threatens our fishing, tourism and recreation industries that rely on a clean and healthy ocean. It’s now up to the Senate to follow in the House’s footsteps to protect our coast,” said Diane Hoskins, campaign director at Oceana.

For decades, Congress upheld offshore drilling moratoriums through the Interior-Environment Appropriations bill. Following the House’s passage of the bill, it is the Senate’s turn to protect the eastern Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific coasts from expanded offshore drilling activities.

As of today, opposition and concern over offshore drilling activities includes:

• Every single East and West Coast governor, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, California, Oregon and Washington
• More than 360 East and West Coast municipalities
• Over 2,200 local, state and federal bipartisan officials
• East and West Coast alliances representing over 49,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families
• New England, South and Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils
• Commercial and recreational fishing interests such as Southeastern Fisheries Association, Snook and Gamefish Foundation, Fisheries Survival Fund, Southern Shrimp Alliance, Billfish Foundation and International Game Fish Association
• California Coastal Commission, California Fish and Game Commission and California State Lands Commission
• Department of Defense, NASA, U.S. Air Force and Florida Defense Support Task Force