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Story from 1999

OFFSHORE DRILLING..THE FIGHT CONTINUES!

"It Ain't Over Until The Leases Are Cancelled"
Sierra Club CONTINUES the Fight to Stop New Drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico!!


The Issue:
The Bush Administration is pushing forward with a proposal to open up 1.5 million new acres for leasing and drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. This is 1.5 million new acres of potential oil and gas drilling off the Gulf Coast of Florida! Recently the US House of Representatives passed the "Davis / Scarborough" amendment that would delay any leasing in this region. Unfortunately this amendment failed in the Senate. The amendment is not dead if it is a part of the conference bill that emerges for Interior Appropriations. We need to keep the pressure on US House Members from Florida to fight for this language in the conference bill.

Why We Oppose Drilling:

• A single offshore rig emits the same quantity of air pollution as 7000 cars driving 50 miles per day.

• Routine offshore drilling operations dump thousands of pounds of "drilling muds" (containing heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, arsenic, and lead) into the Gulf of Mexico. The routine pollution can cause severe disruption to marine environments and health and reproductive problems for marine mammals and fish species.

• A single exploratory well dumps approximately 25,000 tons of toxic metals into the ocean.

• A single production platform can have between 50-100 wells and can discharge 90,000 metric tons of drilling fluids, wastes, and metal cuttings into the ocean. *The Gulf of Mexico has a roughly 3000 square mile "Dead Zone" that is growing. Offshore drilling pollution, by smothering benthic (shallow water) communities, contributes to oxygen depletion and adds to the Dead Zone.

• Offshore drilling releases "toxic brines" that are pockets of water that are trapped in the geologic pockets where gas and oil occur. This toxic brine contains NORMS (naturally occurring radioactive materials), cadmium, lead, benzene, etc. The petroleum industry admits that up to 1.5 million barrels of toxic brine are discharged into the Gulf every day.

• In 1982 a 9.6 million gallon spill occurred from a storage tank of coastal Panama. This caused massive damage to seagrass beds, corals, mangroves, and coastal ecosystems much like those occurring Florida. Much of the damage from that spill continued for years, and the lasting impacts are still seen today.

• The largest spill in the world's history occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979. An exploratory well blew out and was not brought under control for 295 days. This spilled 140 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico Why We Don't Need to Drill in Lease Area 181:

• Estimates vary, but most agree that the total gas and oil reserves off the Florida coast amount to about 2.5 months of U.S. energy needs. Increasing the average fuel efficiency standard of U.S automobiles to 40 mpg would save TEN TIMES that by the year 2020! By improving home insulation across the country we could save FIVE TIMES that by the year 2020.

• The Bush Energy Plan is fundamentally flawed. It places extraction and fossil fuels ahead of efficiency, renewables, alternatives, and clean technology. We can meet our nation's energy needs and NOT have to expand drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

(Information in this Alert was compiled from materials produced by Florida PIRG, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club. Facts and figures mentioned are compiled from data obtained from the U.S. EPA and the Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Dept. of Interior)

— Jonathan Ullman

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