Oppose Dirty Drilling Off Our Coasts – Petition Your Governor
Whether you live on one of America’s coasts or not, we need your help to stop offshore drilling that would fuel climate change and threaten some of our rarest and more beloved ocean wildlife.
The Threat of Offshore Drilling
At Environmental Action we believe that a cleaner, greener world is possible. But we also know that a better world can only be realized if we all work for it.
Climate change and other human-made threats are accelerating the loss of entire species. But that isn’t stopping the Trump administration from barreling ahead with plans to open 90 percent of federal waters to dangerous offshore drilling.1,2
Offshore oil and gas drilling furthers our dependence on the fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. But spills, leaks, and even day-to-day operations can also be incredibly harmful to wildlife.
- In an oil spill, the fur of Alaska’s polar bears loses its insulating qualities, causing them to freeze and drown.3
- If birds and sea turtles off the coast of the Carolinas were to swallow oil, they would die.4
- And new seismic air blasts used to test for oil deposits could deafen and even kill animals like dolphins and whales the who rely on their hearing to survive off the shores of New England, Georgia, the Carolinas, California, or the Pacific Northwest.5
This is a pivotal moment for protecting polar bears, sea turtles, whales and other wildlife. And it’s a key time to address climate change by reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels. In fact, we may have as little as 12 years to completely transition from fossil fuels that worsen climate change.6,7
Opportunity for Victory
We certainly shouldn’t be sacrificing our oceans — and the spectacular marine wildlife they support — to maintain our addiction to fossil fuels.
With a new Congress just elected, and nearly every coastal governor in America opposing the expansion of dirty offshore drilling in the federal waters off their coast, we believe this is a fight we can win.
Unfortunately, there is a very real possibility that the president and his allies in Congress will attempt to fast-track drilling projects. We need every single governor to speak out against this short-sighted plan — and we need them to speak out now.
That’s where you come in.
How You Can Help
Whether you live in a coastal state or not, this is an issue that affects you. More offshore drilling means more fossil fuel use, climate change, and wildlife loss.
1. Jonathan Watts, “Stop biodiversity loss or we could face our own extinction, warns UN,” The Guardian, November 6, 2018.
2. Lisa Friedman, “Trump Moves to Open Nearly All Offshore Waters to Drilling,” The New York Times, January 4, 2018.
3. “Polar bears and oil developments,” International Union for Conservation of Nature: Polar Bear Specialist Group website, published November 9, 2009 and retrieved online November 12, 2018.
4. “How Do Oil Spills Affect Sea Turtles?” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Office of Response and Restoration website, June 16, 2016.
5. Christopher Joyce, “Seismic Surveys Planned Off U.S. Coast Pose Risk To Marine Life,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, February 19, 2018.
6. Rob Picheta, “This is the ‘last generation’ that can save nature, WWF says,” CNN, October 30, 2018.
7. Umair Ifran, “Report: we have just 12 years to limit devastating global warming,” Vox, October 8, 2018.