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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Friends of the Earth
Contact:

Nick
Berning, nberning@foe.org, 202-222-0748
Marcie
Keever, mkeever@foe.org, 415-544-0790 x223

Oil Spill Continues to Leak 1,000 Barrels Per Day into Gulf of Mexico

Tragedy demonstrates oil is dirty and dangerous—leads to renewed challenges to offshore drilling

WASHINGTON

Last Thursday,
the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig leased to oil giant
BP, sank off the coast of Louisiana after an explosion. Eleven oil rig
workers are still missing and presumed dead in what is shaping up to
be the worst oil disaster in the U.S. since the Exxon Valdez spill in
1989.

The crude oil
continuing to leak from an underwater well at the site of the wrecked
drilling platform now stretches across an area larger than the state
of Rhode Island, creating a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico
only 36 miles away from U.S. shores. At least 42,000 gallons of oil
per day are still gushing into the gulf, while the U.S. Coast Guard
races to contain the expanding oil spill.
The explosion
and subsequent oil spill come only three weeks after President Obama
announced that he plans to open vast swaths of the Atlantic seaboard to
offshore oil drilling. More than 16,000 activists have now joined
Friends of the Earth's call for President Obama to reconsider his plan
for more offshore drilling. See the petition here.
Friends of the
Earth Clean Vessels Campaign Director Marcie Keever had the following
statement:
"This tragedy is a stark
reminder of the human, environmental, and economic costs of offshore
oil drilling. Not only are oil spills extremely harmful to marine
life, they also put coastal communities and local industries such as
commercial and recreational fishing at risk.
"The explosion
aboard the Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill should dispel any
assertions that expanded offshore oil drilling is either safe or
environmentally friendly. President Obama should be advocating for clean
energy alternatives, such as stronger fuel efficiency standards and
investment in public transportation, that don't perpetuate our
dependence on outdated, dirty fossil fuels.
"As the Senate
scrambled this week to unveil a climate bill written by Big Oil for
Big Oil that's rife with giveaways to polluting special interests,
President Obama and Congress need to know that expanded offshore oil
drilling endangers our welfare and the future of our planet. Offshore
drilling should have no place in our nation's energy policy."

Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.

(202) 783-7400
www.foe.org
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