Offshore Drilling: Defending the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf

For more than 25 years, the Atlantic coast has been off-limits to offshore oil and gas drilling. During that time, SELC has protected our coastal resources from a variety of harms. Today, our beaches and marshlands remain largely unspoiled, and our fisheries are among the most productive in the world.

The Push to Drill

In 2008, the freeze on offshore drilling in new areas of the U.S. was lifted, setting in motion a proposed lease sale for Virginia that was already on the books. In April 2010, President Obama announced plans to also allow drilling in the Atlantic from Maryland to northern Florida, and in the eastern Gulf, near Alabama.

The plan poses perhaps the greatest threat to the South’s coastal resources in our lifetime—a threat brought into stark focus by the blowout of BP’s deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil spill that will wreak havoc on Gulf communities and ecosystems for years to come.

SELC and Defenders of Wildlife are taking legal action to stop the lax federal oversight that led to the Gulf oil spill, but even before this tragic event, SELC was leading the opposition to plans to open the Southeast’s coast to oil and gas development.

Coastal Riches for Wildlife and People

The beautiful and biologically rich coastal areas off Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama feature some of the most productive estuaries in the country, including the Chesapeake Bay, the Pamlico Sound, the ACE Basin, and Mobile Bay. Our shores attract millions of tourists, anglers, and other visitors each year and provide important breeding and feeding habitat for migratory birds, turtles, and whales, many of which are globally rare.

In fact, the Mid- and South Atlantic and eastern Gulf rank just above the central Gulf as coastal habitats most environmentally sensitive to oil spills, due to their extensive coastal wetlands, marshes, swamps and other shoreline features, according to recent analyses by the Interior Department.

Tourism and fishing—both commercial and recreational—are the economic backbone of hundreds of towns and cities along our coasts. In 2008 alone, our four Atlantic states yielded $262.8 million in commercial fish landings.

Read SELC's position paper (pdf) to learn more about why drilling in the Mid- and South Atlantic and eastern Gulf is ill-advised and short-sighted.

Potential for Disaster

The environmental impacts of offshore drilling were well known even before Gulf disaster. Ocean rigs routinely spill and leak oil—and sometimes blow out. Chemicals used to operate oil and gas wells also pollute the marine environment.

Moreover, oil spills and other contamination from onshore refineries, pipelines, and associated infrastructure would spoil wetland and marsh ecosystems that provide untold benefits for Southern communities, including flood control, clean drinking water, and essential habitat for fisheries that sustain their economies.

Hurricanes occur frequently in the Atlantic and add to the risk. In the Gulf, the devastation and loss of life caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita overshadowed the fact that roughly 8 million gallons of petroleum products spilled from various sources.

Too Little, Too Late

The relatively low amounts of oil and gas in the Atlantic are not worth the tremendous risk to the South’s exceptional coastal resources. According to government estimates, the Mid- and South Atlantic hold less than a two-month supply of oil (at current rates of national consumption) and just a six-month supply of natural gas. The Virginia lease area holds just six days of oil and 18 days of natural gas. (Read more about the Virginia lease sale.)

The South has too much to lose and too little to gain by opening up the Mid- and South Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf to offshore drilling. SELC strongly opposes any moves to do so.

Instead, SELC advocates a rapid shift toward a clean energy future.  We must begin now to invest in and develop alternative energy sources, such as offshore wind, ocean tides, solar, geothermal, cellulosic fuel, and sustainably sourced biomass. We must also implement energy efficiency measures to tap the tremendous reservoir of electricity currently being wasted. And we must improve land use and transportation policies to reduce the miles we drive and the oil we consume.