Trump Administration to open oceans for corporate polluters to drill for oil
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump Administration is expected to announce today that areas of the outer continental shelf (OCS) will be opened for oil drilling leases, according to reports. This shortsighted effort to re-open offshore drilling in the federal waters is a glaring example of how Big Oil has its claws dug deep into our nation’s halls of power.
Last year, Friends of the Earth filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of the Interior in the U.S. federal District Court in Washington, D.C., for violating the Freedom of Information Act by failing to turn over documents related to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s review of six national monuments, including Northeast Canyons and Seamounts off the coast of Massachusetts. Zinke’s review of the national monuments is a thinly veiled guise to open up those lands to fossil fuel development and other destruction.
Marcie Keever, Friends of the Earth’s Oceans and Vessels Program Director, issued the following statement:
The reckless move by the Trump Administration to pursue increased offshore oil drilling is an appalling attack on our already imperiled communities, both marine and terrestrial. Climate science is clear that the remaining untapped fossil fuel reserves must be kept ‘in the ground’ if we are to have any chance of leaving a stable climate for future generations.
Friends of the Earth is committed to defending against dangerous Big Oil handouts, and we will continue the fight to safeguard our coasts, from the Northeast and Eastern Gulf, to the Arctic, and all the way to California and the Pacific.
Expert Contact: Marcie Keever, (415) 999-3992, [email protected]
Communications Contact: Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, [email protected]