Oceana Statement on New Offshore Drilling Moratorium
Press Release Date: July 12, 2010
Location: Washington, D.C.
Contact:
Anna Baxter | email: abaxter@oceana.org
Anna Baxter
“The Administration has no choice but to put a hold on offshore drilling. New drilling poses major risks, which we simply can not take, especially while thousands of victims of the ongoing drilling disaster continue to wait for an end to this oil and gas nightmare. The Administration needs to put the interests of Americans, who depend on fishing, tourism and gulf seafood, ahead of the interests of Big Oil.
In the meantime, in addition to the Commission investigating the spill, the President should also appoint a Blue Ribbon Panel to develop a roadmap for replacing the energy that would be acquired by further drilling with alternative solutions. Using conservation, energy efficiency and clean energy, we can replace the energy that would otherwise come from new offshore drilling without increasing energy imports. We should start by building a Clean Energy Manufacturing Hub in the Gulf Region, and transitioning workers from offshore drilling jobs to careers building a clean energy economy.
We commend the President for putting more drilling on hold. He should now exert his leadership by choosing a path to clean energy that creates jobs while doing no more harm to our oceans and the coastal communities that rely upon them. We can replace the energy that could be acquired by further drilling with alternative solutions, and the Administration should make a commitment to build a manufacturing base to create jobs in the place of offshore drilling. We can end new offshore drilling permanently, without costing jobs. This approach is the only way to make sure this tragic story never happens again.”