San Clemente, CA (December 1, 2010) – In response to the Obama Administration’s
announcement today regarding a ban on offshore drilling, the Surfrider Foundation
issued the following statement:
“Today the Obama Administration announced that it will be banning new offshore
drilling along the continental United States for the next seven years. The Surfrider
Foundation applauds this decision and holds it up as a major victory for our nation’s
oceans and coastlines, and for the local communities who depend on them for their
livelihoods. The Surfrider Foundation is particularly proud of their 20,000+ activists
who send letters and messages to President Obama asking for the reinstatement of
the executive moratorium on offshore drilling. Even as hundreds of Gulf Shore
communities continue to struggle to recover from this nation’s most devastating
environmental disaster, today’s decision underscores the importance of grassroots
mobilization to protect our nation’s natural resources. America must permanently ban
all new offshore drilling, end the harmful practice of seismic testing and continue to
move towards clean and renewable energy.”
The Surfrider Foundation has been working to reinstate the federal moratoria on
offshore drilling since 2008. For more information, please visit
www.nottheanswer.org.
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Now more than ever the state of Florida needs to be pressured to make sure no drilling is allowed in state waters, and that the moratorium for offshore drilling is made permanent. Click HERE to open the petition to prohibit oil drilling for exploration or extraction in and beneath Florida waters from the mean high tide line to the outermost boundaries of Florida’s territorial seas.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday afternoon that the Obama administration will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan, reversing two key policy changes President Obama announced in late March.
"We are adjusting our strategy in areas where there are no active leases," Salazar told reporters in a phone call, adding that the administration has decided "not expand to new areas at this time" and instead "focus and expand our critical resources on areas that are currently active" when it comes to oil and gas drilling.
In March--less than a month before the BP oil spill--Obama and Salazar said they would open up the eastern Gulf and parts of the Atlantic, including off the coast of Virginia, to offshore oil and gas exploration. On both of those new areas, the administration said it would start scoping to see if oil and gas drilling would be suitable. The eastern Gulf remains closed to drilling under a congressional moratorium, but the White House indicated it would press to lift the moratorium if necessary.
Wednesday's announcement is sure to please environmentalists while angering oil and gas companies as well as some lawmakers from both parties who have pressed for continued offshore energy exploration in the wake of massive Gulf of Mexico spill.
According to multiple individuals briefed on the plan, the Obama administration will proceed with scoping for possible drilling in the central and western Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic as part of the upcoming 2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf program, while keeping the other areas off limits.
The administration is likely to conduct a new environmental assessment of Shell's plan to conduct drilling in the Arctic, the sources added.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who has consistently pushed to restrict drilling in the eastern gulf, welcomed the news. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the senator Wednesday morning, according to Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin, but the two men did not speak yet because Nelson is chairing a hearing.
"Drilling off Florida's Gulf coast is banned at least until 2022, under a 2006 law passed by Senator Nelson," McLaughlin said. "The senator is pleased the White House has decided rightly to keep the area off-limits. He hopes Florida's next governor and the Legislature similarly will commit to protecting the state's tourism economy and unique environment."
Activists such as Margie Alt, executive director of Environment America, also praised the administration's plan, saying, "Today, anyone who loves our beaches, who fishes in the ocean or who depends on a healthy coastal economy can thank the Obama administration for protecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the west coast of Florida from oil drilling. The BP disaster earlier this year was a tragic reminder that drilling is a dirty and dangerous business. The only way to truly keep our coasts and ocean ecosystems safe is to keep them rig free."
But the move could spark a backlash from business interests as well from both many congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats such as Sen. Manry Landrieu, who argue that curbing offshore energy exploration could exacerbate the nation's economic woes.
Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, said in a statement, "The Administration is sending a message to America's oil and gas industry: take your capital, technology, and jobs somewhere else."
Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.), the top Republican on the House Resources Committee, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon accusing the administration of "taking the wrong approach in responding to the BP spill and creating energy and energy jobs in this country. The answer isn't to give up and say, 'America can't figure it out, we'll rely on other countries to produce our energy.' The answer is to find out what went wrong and make effective, timely reforms to ensure that U.S. offshore drilling is the safest in the world."
By Juliet Eilperin | December 1, 2010; 1:50 PM ET
ttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/12/obama_administration_will_ban.html