AmericasOffshore

Democrat senators oppose Obama’s Atlantic offshore drilling plans

Washington: A group of 12 US senators from northeast states registered their objections on Monday to President Barack Obama’s proposals for offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic.

The senators wrote to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell of their concerns about potential environmental damage.

In the letter they cited the 2010 case of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico and research showing that a huge swathe of that coastline was impacted by the disaster.

The letter is a response to January’s announcement by the Department of the Interior of its 2017-2022 offshore oil and gas leasing programme which would allow drilling off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Although the protesting senators, led by Ed Markey of Massachusetts, are from states further up the coast they noted in the letter that “offshore oil spills do not respect artificial state boundaries and a spill in the Atlantic could affect our states”.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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