Raise Your Voice Against Offshore Drilling

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management just released its new five-year plan for leasing offshore areas for oil and gas drilling and nearly all U.S. waters are proposed for leases to the oil and gas industry. Under this proposal, every coastal area in the continental United States and Alaska are at risk from the devastating impacts of offshore drilling.

The good news is that this plan is not set in stone, as the name suggests, this is just a draft proposal and there will be opportunity to submit comments on it. The public comment period is open now and ends March 8. You’ve helped defeat drilling proposals off of our Atlantic Coast once – speak out and help do it again!

Submit your comments here to let them know why you oppose offshore drilling and that you do not want to see it off of Georgia's or South Carolina’s coast. You can also mail in your comments to: Ms. Kelly Hammerle, National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program Manager, BOEM (VAM-LD), 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166. 

We suggest that comments:

• Be fact-based;
• Include links to data or research;
• Provide specifics regarding impacts to the ocean and coasts, the plants and animals, to people, and how people use the ocean; and where and when the ocean is utilized.​

The more specific and fact-based your comments are, the more effective they will be, so please add in your personal reasons for opposing offshore drilling and explain why our oceans and coasts are so important to you.

Then, plan to attend one of the “open meetings” BOEM will hold in the state capitals of each of the Atlantic Coast states. Efforts are underway to convince BOEM that additional meetings should be held in coastal cities. 

• Feb. 13 in Columbia, SC from 3-7pm at the Doubletree by Hilton: 2100 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC 29210. (803) 731-0300 
• or Feb. 28 in Atlanta, GA from 3-7pm at the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel: One Hartsfield Centre Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30354. (404) 209-9999

Click here to see locations and times for other states.

If you go to a public meeting, here is a template that you can use to begin to prepare your statement: “Offshore drilling is a toxic and dangerous practice that ravages our oceans with chemical pollution, spills, fires, and explosions. It kills fish and sea life, poisons coral reefs and pollutes beaches. Expanding offshore drilling damages the tourism, recreation, and fishing industries that generate billions of dollars for our state's economy. Please look forward rather than backward and invest public dollars in renewable energy sources.”

The administration's efforts defy the will of more than 140 Eastern coastal municipalities; over 1200 local, state and federal bipartisan officials; and an alliance representing over 41,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families who say #ProtectOurCoast and #KeepItInTheGround. Together, we can stop this.