Senate Set to Pass Offshore Drilling Legislation that Lifts Protections from Gulf Coast Drilling

Drilling Deal puts Coastal Waters and Beaches in the Hands of Big Oil and Routes Billions from Federal Treasury to Four Gulf States

(7/25/2006) - Washington, D.C. -- Defenders of Wildlife today decried the Senate's decision to move ahead with a vote to open a large portion of currently protected waters in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling and give billions of dollars to just four Gulf states as "a bad deal for Americans and a leap backwards in reducing our addiction to oil," says Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the organization. 

Schlickeisen goes on to say, "The Senate's deal to drill in previously protected waters in the Gulf of Mexico only benefits Big Oil and the residents of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The rest of America is left paying for this handout. Big Oil profits because of the access they get. The states profit because of the billions of revenue that will go to their state instead of the federal treasury.

"Instead of moving the country forward to address our energy concerns, the Senate is moving backward as it continues to rely on one of the slowest, dirtiest and most out-of-date energy production methods available today. We have technology right now to make cars, trucks and SUVs go farther on a gallon of gas. We also have clean, renewable sources of energy that we could easily tap. These are the initiatives the Senate should pass, not more drilling schemes. 

"In the end, this bill offers no protection for coastal states in the likely event of a toxic spill. Add to that the tens of billions of dollars that this will cost over the next several decades and it becomes clear that more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico will actually cost Americans much more than it could ever offer them.

"The Senate must not conference their bill with Representative Pombo's House bill which lifts the national moratorium. A blending of the House and Senate bills would likely erode 25 years of coastal protection, thereby threatening fragile coastal ecosystems and vital fishing and tourism industries that are the lifeblood of coastal states. The Senate must not let its bill be ‘Pomboized' in conference." 

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Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.

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Contact(s):

William Lutz, (202) 772-0269