EcoUprising: Call To Action No Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling

PUBLIC COMMENTS DUE AUGUST 17, 2017

At the end of June, the Department of the Interior announced plans to develop a new five-year National Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

New potential areas for offshore drilling? Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic

The current five-year plan was finalized just last year by the Obama administration and was the result of years of negotiations, environmental impact research and public comments. But the Trump administration has other plans for America's energy initiatives and announced their intentions when President Trump signed an executive order on April 28 requesting an offshore American energy strategy.

Public Comments period ends August 17^th. This is the first step to the Trump administration being able to rework a new five-year offshore drilling program.

What are some of the risks of offshore drilling?

There are major environmental impacts throughout every phase of the offshore drilling process. That starts with seismic testing, which is looking for oil and gas reserves.

Oil and gas companies use these loud sound blast explosions that are really damaging to marine life to identify oil and gas deposits. That is likely to move forward off the Atlantic in the coming months.

A second type of impact is the industrialization of the shoreline. The infrastructure, the refineries and the pipeline can really change the character of a coastal community. Major impacts to water quality and air quality, and then, of course, oil spills.

For every major oil spill that gets headlines, you have hundreds of smaller spills that are under-reported and cause serious impact.

For people that visit the coast, those that surf, those that swim, all of this will affect you.

Public Comment: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=BOEM-2017-0050-0001
DUE AUGUST 17TH, 2017