Reno, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources, joined Democratic Senate colleagues in writing a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to maintain his Department’s exististing 2017-2022 Outer Continetal Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The existing five-year plan was developed in over two years with extensive public comment. The original program did not include lease sales of environmentally sensitive areas. Despite the thorough initial development, Secretary Zinke has begun the process to revisit the program, which would endanger these protected waters.
“Specifically, the current program excludes leases in the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, off the Pacific Coast and in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico,” read the letter. “Your agency has thoroughly documented the risks of exploration in the Arctic Ocean, as well as the critical ecosystem functions, fragile ecology, and dependence of local communities on subsistence hunting and fishing that would be jeopardized in the likely event of an oil spill.”
The senators continued, “Allowing oil and gas drilling off the East Coast would threaten the tourism and fishing economies, beaches and coastlines of those states. Indeed, since 2015, municipal governments on the East Coast passed over 120 bipartisan resolutions opposing drilling in the Atlantic. Similarly, every Senator along the West Coast has sought to protect the nearly 650,000 jobs in the fishing, tourism, and recreation industries and the $44 billion coastal economy from the impacts of offshore drilling. In the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Defense has repeatedly expressed support for an extension of the existing moratorium in order to protect its critical testing and training range.”
In addition to Senator Cortez Masto, the following senators signed the letter: U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
The letter’s text can be found below:
August 17, 2017
Dear Secretary Zinke:
We are writing to express our extreme concern over your agency’s proposed revision of the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. We believe the existing program correctly excludes areas from the leasing program that pose significant environmental, economic, and cultural risk, as well as face strong community opposition. We urge you to maintain the protections and exclusions outlined in the current 2017-2022 Program.
The Department of Interior spent over three years and incorporated over one million public comments in developing the final 2017-2022 Program. It is unclear what new scientific evidence you anticipate discovering in the 45-day window your agency has allotted for public comment that was not previously known and analyzed. At a time when the Administration has proposed a 12% cut to your agency’s budget, it is especially concerning that you would expend the time, personnel, and resources to revise a plan that is current through 2022 without a scientific justification. We strongly oppose this effort, and urge you to maintain the current 2017-2022 Program.
Specifically, the current program excludes leases in the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, off the Pacific Coast and in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Your agency has thoroughly documented the risks of exploration in the Arctic Ocean, as well as the critical ecosystem functions, fragile ecology, and dependence of local communities on subsistence hunting and fishing that would be jeopardized in the likely event of an oil spill. Allowing oil and gas drilling off the East Coast would threaten the tourism and fishing economies, beaches and coastlines of those states. Indeed, since 2015, municipal governments on the East Coast passed over 120 bipartisan resolutions opposing drilling in the Atlantic. Similarly, every Senator along the West Coast has sought to protect the nearly 650,000 jobs in the fishing, tourism, and recreation industries and the $44 billion coastal economy from the impacts of offshore drilling. In the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Defense has repeatedly expressed support for an extension of the existing moratorium in order to protect its critical testing and training range.
Given the time and public input devoted to the final 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, we strongly oppose any effort to reopen this program to expand leases in these areas over the opposition of the impacted communities and the scientific consensus. We urge you to keep the 2017-2022 program in place.
We look forward to working with you on this important issue.