Governors and attorneys general of a dozen US states are voicing their opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Attorneys general of Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and, most recently, California filed comment letters with the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
The latest letter came from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who joined a coalition of 10 attorneys general in urging the federal government to exclude all planning areas in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the upcoming 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
The final program will determine which ocean areas could be opened to lease sales for oil and gas activity during the current five-year planning period, which covers the period 2024-2029.
“President Trump is once again taking action to line the pockets of his Big Oil friends. This time, he’s expanding oil and gas development by attempting to drill in our coastal communities. There is no compelling need to risk our marine and coastal resources for the limited supplies of fossil fuels off our coasts,” Bonta said.
He pointed out that the US already produces more oil and gas than any other country and exports more than it uses, and that gasoline demand has been dropping since 2019, especially on the east and west coasts.
Separately, the governors of North Carolina and South Carolina opposed offshore drilling on their coasts in a letter to BOEM.
The Bureau is evaluating the American coastline for potential sites to drill for natural energy resources, and potential new leases could be given on the Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina coasts, which, by a resolution signed by President Donald Trump in his first term, are supposed to be protected until 2032.
In the bipartisan letter, Democratic governor Josh Stein and Republican governor Henry McMaster asked the administration not to lift the moratorium. The two Carolinas have around 800 km of ocean beaches and over 9,650 km of coastline.
“These decisions to protect the Carolina coast from offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production were responsive to the significant bipartisan concerns of business leaders, residents, and local and state elected officials about the risks that these activities pose to the economy and environment of our states,” they wrote.
They added that every North Carolina and South Carolina coastal municipality has passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and seismic testing, reaffirmed by other municipalities and counties, as well as state legislators and members of Congressional delegations from both parties.
This opposition to offshore drilling follows a total of 18 attorneys general filing a lawsuit in federal court in May challenging US president Donald Trump’s order to shut down offshore wind projects, stating that such a move was “unlawful and can jeopardise the continued development of a power source critical to the states’ economic vitality, energy mix, public health, and climate goals.”
The lawsuit names New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State as the plaintiffs.
