Oil Spill Continues to Leak 1,000 Barrels Per Day into Gulf of Mexico
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Nick Berning, [email protected], 202-222-0748
Marcie Keever, [email protected], 415-544-0790 x223
Oil Spill Continues to Leak 1,000 Barrels Per Day into Gulf of Mexico
Tragedy demonstrates oil is dirty and dangerous—leads to renewed challenges to offshore drilling
Washington, D.C.—Last Thursday, the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig leased to oil giant BP, sank off the coast of Louisiana after an explosion. Eleven oil rig workers are still missing and presumed dead in what is shaping up to be the worst oil disaster in the U.S. since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
The crude oil continuing to leak from an underwater well at the site of the wrecked drilling platform now stretches across an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, creating a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico only 36 miles away from U.S. shores. At least 42,000 gallons of oil per day are still gushing into the gulf, while the U.S. Coast Guard races to contain the expanding oil spill.
The explosion and subsequent oil spill come only three weeks after President Obama announced that he plans to open vast swaths of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil drilling. More than 16,000 activists have now joined Friends of the Earth’s call for President Obama to reconsider his plan for more offshore drilling. See the petition here.
Friends of the Earth Clean Vessels Campaign Director Marcie Keever had the following statement:
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the human, environmental, and economic costs of offshore oil drilling. Not only are oil spills extremely harmful to marine life, they also put coastal communities and local industries such as commercial and recreational fishing at risk.
“The explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill should dispel any assertions that expanded offshore oil drilling is either safe or environmentally friendly. President Obama should be advocating for clean energy alternatives, such as stronger fuel efficiency standards and investment in public transportation, that don’t perpetuate our dependence on outdated, dirty fossil fuels.
“As the Senate scrambled this week to unveil a climate bill written by Big Oil for Big Oil that’s rife with giveaways to polluting special interests, President Obama and Congress need to know that expanded offshore oil drilling endangers our welfare and the future of our planet. Offshore drilling should have no place in our nation’s energy policy.”
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Friends of the Earth and our network of grassroots groups in 77 countries fight to create a more healthy, just world. Our current campaigns focus on clean energy and solutions to global warming, protecting people from toxic and new, potentially harmful technologies, and promoting smarter, low-pollution transportation alternatives.