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| Dear Friend, |
| Thirteen years ago, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and causing one of the largest oil spills in history. Communities along the Gulf Coast are still on the frontlines of climate and health harms from fossil fuel pollution. Just last month, the Biden administration auctioned off 73 million acres of public waters in the Gulf to the oil and gas industry, increasing the chances of future disasters. |
| The predominantly Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income communities along the Texas and Louisiana coast live and work each day near polluting oil and gas pipelines, plants, and terminals. Residents face higher risks of respiratory disease and cancers from industrial air pollutants. And yet, to grow oil and gas profits, the fossil fuel industry has aggressive plans to lock in new infrastructure in the form of crude oil and gas export terminals. |
| We must stop these fossil fuel facilities before they’re even built. Tell the Biden administration: Protect our communities and our climate and reject the proposals to build several new offshore deepwater ports throughout the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Earthjustice is challenging the proposed construction of four offshore deepwater ports off the Texas and Louisiana coasts in the Gulf of Mexico. These ports would cause significant greenhouse gas emissions and pose significant health and environmental risks for Gulf Coast communities. |
| We recently saw success in one case in Texas’ Matagorda Bay when a community of fishing leaders, waterkeepers, and environmental partners were able to pause a project that had the potential to stir up toxic mercury from a Superfund site and imperil the local fishing industry and the health of nearby residents. The 27-mile dredging project would allow for the development of a new oil export terminal with a capacity of 20 million barrels of oil monthly and would have expanded a shipping channel along the Coast making room for oil tankers as long as football fields to reach the port. |
| The Earthjustice lawsuit to halt the Matagorda Bay project is part of an ongoing strategy, undertaken with the support of a broad coalition of diverse groups, to challenge fossil fuels at every stage of their life cycle — and we need your help to urge the Biden administration to reject other proposals to build new offshore deepwater ports throughout the Gulf of Mexico. |
| At a critical moment for our climate, supporting more fossil fuel development for the sole purpose of growing oil and gas industry profits is already unacceptable. Even worse, these developments all take place at the expense of Gulf coast ecosystems, and frontline communities that have long-served as sacrifice zones for the fossil fuel industry. |
| If the Biden administration is serious about environmental and climate justice, then it must use its authority to protect the Gulf Coast from dangerous fossil fuel projects that threaten our environment and global efforts to fight climate change. |
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Sincerely,
Erin Gaines
Supervising Staff Attorney,
Fossil Fuels Program |
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