Five years after the Deepwater Horizon blowout spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama Administration has proposed a disastrous five-year plan that would rip open vast stretches of our Arctic and the Atlantic coasts to dangerous new offshore oil and gas drilling.
The plan would expose hundreds of miles of the East Coast — from the Jersey Shore down to Florida's northeast coast — to the risk of the kind of catastrophic oil spill we saw in the Gulf of Mexico.
The impacts on fishermen, coastal communities and countless marine mammals — including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale — will be devastating.
And even one spill in the pristine Arctic — home to more than half of America's polar bears — would be an unmitigated catastrophe.
What's more, the industry's seismic airgun blasting, which they use to explore for oil, would harm whales and other marine life even before a single well is drilled.
Tell Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to protect these irreplaceable waters — and the fisheries, wetlands, wildlife and coastal communities that depend on them — from reckless oil and gas exploration and drilling.
Dear Secretary Jewell,
I strongly oppose your department's proposal to open vast portions of the Atlantic coast and the wild Arctic to offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling. While I applaud the administration's strong steps to protect our natural heritage and fight climate change, it would mar that record to rip open the pristine Arctic for new oil and gas drilling as this plan would permit. In addition, the plan could expose the densely populated Atlantic coast to the risks of a catastrophic blowout.
Please create a more responsible plan that would:
-- Keep all Atlantic and Arctic waters off-limits to oil and gas leasing, drilling and seismic exploration
-- Strengthen safeguards to reduce risks in areas already affected by drilling
-- Protect future generations from the dangers of climate change by slashing carbon pollution
-- Invest in clean energy and energy efficiency alternatives, such as offshore wind power
A plan that could devastate our last and greatest wild places, threaten endangered whales and other marine mammals and jeopardize the livelihood and environment of Americans up and down the East Coast, while locking in new sources of carbon pollution, is the wrong energy policy for America. Please chart a more responsible course that will protect our natural heritage while leading us toward a clean energy future.
[Your comments here]
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
