John,
In December the U.S. Department of the Interior released a horrific five-year plan for offshore oil leasing, setting the stage to auction off 1.27 billion acres of our beloved public waters in California, the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and Cook Inlet off Alaska. That’s all in addition to the lease sales Congress recently mandated in the Gulf and Cook Inlet.
This plan would vastly expand drilling in the United States — including in places like the high Arctic, where drilling has never been proposed.
More drilling will only push more imperiled wildlife closer to extinction.
Sea otters and endangered black abalone already struggle in the face of pollution and disappearing habitat in waters off California. The last few dozen North Pacific right whales on Earth rely on Arctic waters to migrate, feed, and nurse calves — while bowhead whales, walruses, and polar bears face thinning sea ice, warming waters, and habitat loss. Increased drilling activity — and the greater potential for oil spills that goes with it — will put these and other species at unacceptable risk.
Now we have a narrow window to speak up for marine life and habitat. Your comment will help build public opposition to the federal government’s terrible proposal.
Tell the Trump administration to can its leasing plan.
