Washington,
D.C.
– U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) today
introduced legislation to prohibit offshore drilling permanently on the outer
continental shelf of California, Oregon and Washington State.
The
legislation, first introduced in 2010, would amend the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act to permanently protect the $34 billion coastal economies of the three
states, which support nearly 570,000 jobs in California, Oregon and Washington.
Senator
Boxer said, “We cannot afford to put California’s coastal economy at risk by
drilling offshore. Nearly 390,000 California jobs and $23 billion in
annual economic activity depend on a pristine coastline. The bill would help
prevent another economic and environmental disaster like the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill along the Gulf Coast last year.”
“One
of the lessons learned from the disastrous BP oil spill is that without a
fundamental transformation of the oil industry, another spill is possible, even
likely. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take for Washington State’s
beautiful coastlines and the communities that depend on them,” Senator Cantwell
said. “More offshore drilling will not lower gasoline prices or reduce our
nation’s dangerous overreliance on foreign oil, which is why we should be
focusing on the promising clean energy alternatives that are better for consumers
and can provide long-term sustainable solutions to America’s energy needs.”
“We’ve
seen how utterly devastating offshore oil spills can be, and that’s why
California voters have voted to ban all offshore drilling from our coastline.
I’m proud to join Senator Boxer in introducing a bill that will permanently ban
all new offshore drilling for oil and natural gas along the West Coast,” said Senator
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
“I’ve
always opposed drilling off the coast of Washington. The tragedy in the Gulf
Coast is a painful reminder that we can’t allow drilling anywhere on the West
Coast,” Senator
Murray said. “The economic and environmental devastation caused by the
Exxon Valdez disaster is still impacting industry in our region, and we can’t
allow it to happen again. Our environment and our economy are too
important to risk, and this bill ensures that big oil companies can never roll
the dice on the Pacific coast.”
“Three
years ago the oil industry was able to wipe away the moratorium on offshore oil
drilling and expose the Pacific coast to the risk of catastrophic oil spills of
the kind that happened in the Gulf of Mexico last year,” Wyden said.
“This bill will reinstate those protections and permanently guard the coasts of
Oregon, Washington and California from the those very real environmental
threats.”
“Millions
of Oregonians depend on clean ocean waters. This vital resource sustains jobs
in our state’s fishing, shipping, and tourism industries and we can’t afford to
put the state’s economy at risk just to pad the profits of big oil. This
moratorium will ensure that Oregon’s coastline is protected for generations to
come,” said
Senator Merkley.
The
West Coast Ocean Protection Act includes clear language stating that “the
Secretary of the Interior shall not issue a lease for the exploration,
development, or production of oil or natural gas in any area of the outer
Continental Shelf off the coast of the State of California, Oregon or
Washington.”
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