Cantwell Pushes to Maintain Northwest Outer Continental Shelf Drilling Ban
Cantwell emphasizes need to prevent drilling off Washington coast, break fossil fuel dependence
WASHINGTON, DC – As the Senate prepares to consider legislation next week to expand oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and a bipartisan coalition of her coastal state colleagues called for extending the existing moratorium on outer continental shelf drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific. The Senate version of the Gulf drilling bill only extends the moratorium for the west coast of Florida. Moreover, the House version of the legislation, which will later be combined with the Senate bill, would eliminate the current ban altogether. Cantwell and her colleagues are pushing to extend the moratorium for other coastal states through 2022.
“We absolutely must protect our pristine shorelines and coastal economies from the risk of a devastating oil spill,” said Cantwell. “Our state’s coastal waters boast an unrivaled abundance of diverse marine life. We need to preserve this natural treasure for the collective benefit of current and future generations. And now more than ever, we need to get serious about a far more balanced national energy strategy that invests in American ingenuity. That’s the key to moving us beyond our dangerous oil dependence.”
Thursday, in a letter to Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Cantwell and 12 of her Senate colleagues from Atlantic and Pacific coast states expressed their deep concern with the House version of the legislation, and asked Frist to allow a vote on their amendment to the Senate bill to extend the existing moratorium on outer continental shelf drilling through 2022 for regions including the Pacific Northwest. Frist has previously said he will not permit amendments to the pending legislation, including a number of other Cantwell-cosponsored measures related to fuel efficiency, alternative fuel infrastructure, conservation, and renewable energy production.
“Our beaches and our coastlines are economic and environmental treasures for each of our states,” the senators wrote. “…they are the foundation of thriving tourist economies, provide habitat and shelter for countless species of wildlife, and support a robust commercial and recreational fishing industry. They are where the residents of our states live, work, and play, and every year we welcome countless visitors from across the nation and around the world to share in their beauty.”
“But they are also exceptionally fragile, and we are committed to fighting to protect them,” the senators continued. “A single oil spill could lay waste to huge sections of coastline, fatal both to wildlife a state's economy.”
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Gulf drilling legislation (S. 3711) on Monday.
Cantwell has long worked to guard against a devastating oil spill off Washington’s coast. A few weeks ago, Cantwell called for the first major oil spill response drill in the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, saying such an exercise was long overdue.
Earlier this year, Cantwell introduced her Oil Pollution Prevention and Response Act (S. 2440), based in part on an oil spill field hearing she chaired in Seattle in August 2005. Cantwell’s legislation would reduce the risk of an oil spill in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca by requiring a year-round rescue tug in Neah Bay, stationing oil response equipment along the entire Strait of Juan de Fuca, strengthening navigational measures in sensitive areas, and authorizing financial support for Washington's Oil Spill Advisory Council. The legislation would also increase oil spill liability caps, require more comprehensive structural inspections of single-hull oil tankers, and initiate an analysis of oil transportation in the United States to determine if additional safeguards are needed.
A copy of the senators’letter to Frist can be found here
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