Obama administration pushes offshore drilling

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sold 434,000 acres for oil and gas development in the Western Gulf of Mexico. Leases were awarded to 14 companies for approximately $110 million. Meanwhile, Congress has yet to implement the regulatory and safety recommendations from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

Friends of the Earth Climate campaigner Marissa Knodel issued the following statement in response:

The federal government’s addiction to fossil fuels threatens the health and vitality of the waters, wildlife and coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of today’s auction winners, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, have the highest numbers of offshore drilling environmental and safety violations, between 2000 – 2012.

In order to fulfill its moral obligation to future generations and leave behind a planet that is not polluted and damaged, the federal government must halt all offshore leasing for oil and gas development and leave fossil fuels in the ground.

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Expert Contact: Marissa Knodel, (202) 222-0724, [email protected]
Communications Contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]