Welcome to Stop The Drill, Oceana’s campaign to ban offshore drilling in U.S. waters and bring offshore wind to the East Coast.
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Offshore Drilling is Dirty and DangerousWhere there is drilling, there is spilling. A spill of some size is reported nearly every day in the Gulf of Mexico. Not only is oil pollution damaging to marine life, but the emissions from the continued use of oil contribute to climate change and ocean acidification. |
Two Years Later: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Now two years old, the Deepwater Horizon disaster was the worst of its kind, spewing more than 200 million gallons of crude into the gulf. Despite the ongoing impacts to coastal industries and ecosystems, the U.S. Congress hasn’t passed a single law to improve safety or limit the areas in which we drill. On the contrary, they have made several efforts to expand drilling to the east and west coasts and paid little attention to the lessons we so desperately need to learn.
Solutions Abound
Offshore drilling is unnecessary. By pushing hard toward renewable energy sources, such as offshore wind, we can make offshore drilling a thing of the past. A modest investment in offshore wind could supply enough electricity to power half the East Coast, and more than 100% of the electricity for some states, such as Massachusetts and North Carolina.Significantly, drilling will not solve the current spike in gas prices. Opening all the U.S. coasts to new drilling would only lower gas prices by three cents per-gallon, and even that wouldn’t happen until 2030.
For the health of the oceans and the billions of people that depend on them, we must invest in offshore wind and other renewables and permanently move away from offshore drilling. See Oceana’s report, Breaking the Habit, to learn how we can transition away from offshore drilling.
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