For Immediate Release
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.
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.
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.
Earth Clean Vessels Campaign Director Marcie Keever had the following
statement:
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.
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dependence on outdated, dirty fossil fuels.
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.”
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