The Department of Interior will soon finalize the next 5-year offshore oil drilling plan. Send your message to President Biden to protect our coasts and climate!
The ongoing heat waves that are smothering much of the Northern Hemisphere are just the latest reminder of the dangerous effects of climate change. In the U.S. alone, these include record breaking temperatures across the South and West, alarming ocean conditions off Florida and recurring waves of smoke from the Canadian wildfires. These devastating events are part of a trend of worsening climate change across the globe. Planet Earth, and all who inhabit it, face a future of increasing heat, hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, rising seas and ocean acidification unless we take bold action to end the burning of fossil fuels.
Yet, despite unprecedented urgency to act on climate change, the Biden administration is on the verge of approving even more oil and gas leasing off our coasts. The Department of Interior’s Proposed 5-Year Offshore Drilling Plan includes ten lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one off Alaska that would expand drilling across hundreds of millions of acres. This would result in billions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, making the U.S.’s achievement of net-zero emissions by 2050 far less likely and undermining global efforts to address climate change. Simply put, new offshore drilling is everyone’s problem regardless of where you live.
The federal government’s draft 5-year plan also doubles down on using the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice zone for U.S. oil and gas production. The Gulf is already saturated with 1,862 oil platforms, which cause an endless series of spills, accidents and onshore damage. Most infamously, the 2010 BP oil spill disaster released over 200 million gallons of oil and tarnished 1,100 miles of coastline across four states. Offshore drilling harms both coastal and inland communities, with disproportionate impacts to lower-income and communities of color. Oil refineries and petrochemical facilities pollute frontline communities with carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and toxic particulates that damage living conditions and public health.
Send your message to President Biden to stop new offshore oil & gas leasing!
The Department of Interior is expected to make a final decision later this year on whether to approve new oil and gas leasing in the 5-year offshore drilling plan for 2023 - 2028. However, the agency is not accepting additional public comments on the proposal. That’s why now is a critical time to send a message to President Biden urging him to honor his commitments to climate change action and environmental justice by including #NoNewLeases in the next 5-year offshore drilling plan!
U.S. House proposes more offshore drilling off our coasts
Members of Congress are also advancing misguided proposals to expand offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters. On July 19, 2023, the House Appropriations Committee passed a funding bill with harmful riders mandating new oil and gas drilling. The Republican authored bill would require the Department of Interior to hold annual lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska, as well as quarterly lease sales onshore. The House bill also includes many harmful cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other programs that Surfrider supports (see Surfrider’s blog to learn more). Later this year, the Senate will develop its version of the FY 24 budget before a final package is passed by Congress.
Fortunately, some leaders in Congress do understand the need to stop new oil and gas drilling. Senate and House leaders have introduced multiple bills including: The West Coast Protection Act (S 22/ H.R. 470) to ban drilling off the West Coast; The COAST Anti-Drilling Act (S 617 / H.R. 1320) to ban drilling off the East Coast; The Florida Coastal Protection Act (H.R.1443) to ban drilling off Florida; and The Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act (H.R. 4031) to protect the Arctic. Surfrider is determined to pass these and other bills to permanently protect U.S. waters from new leasing in upcoming 5-year offshore drilling plans.
Contact your member of Congress in support of bills to end new offshore drilling!
Surfrider Foundation has a long and proud history of defending U.S. coastlines from new offshore drilling. For decades, our chapters have fought to stop oil and gas development in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. We have also helped build a national coalition of over 400 municipalities, 55,000 businesses, 2,500 elected officials, 500,000 fishing families, and millions of people that demand an end to new offshore drilling. Please join Surfrider in demanding that our federal government end new oil and gas development and advance a clean energy future!
Learn More and Take Action
Surfrider Stop Offshore Drilling page