Offshore drilling: Still dirty, still risky
Along our nation’s coasts, the
oil industry continues its push to
expand offshore drilling, seizing
on state-level budget pressures to
convince lawmakers to allow this
destructive activity.
The oil industry claims drilling
technology has improved, which it
has, but the process still pollutes our
oceans and beaches at every stage from
exploration to extraction. And the
risk of catastrophic spills remains—an
environmental nightmare that can
cost millions to local economies and
do irreparable harm to wildlife, as
Florida residents were reminded after
two oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico
earlier this year. In response, our
sister organizations in California and
Florida jumped into action to save
our waters and coasts from the threats
of offshore drilling.
This summer, after Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger announced he
was reversing his long-standing
opposition to drilling, thousands of
Environment California members
and activists contacted officials in
Sacramento. The state Assembly
rejected the governor’s plan, but our
work isn’t done since oil interests
and some legislative leaders are still
pushing to drill. Just two months
earlier, Environment Florida helped
stop a proposal in Tallahassee that
would have opened Florida’s coast to
drilling. But with pro-drilling interests
working on a ballot measure to not
just allow, but mandate, drilling, we’re
still organizing to protect the coast.
