Press Release | September 8, 2020

SELC statement: Trump administration drilling exemptions leave many states at risk

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Southern Environmental Law Center joined dozens of conservation organizations and thousands of coastal communities, businesses and elected representatives in condemning the Trump administration’s announcement leaving much of the coast vulnerable to the dangers of oil drilling.

President Trump on Tuesday announced drilling would be barred off Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, but allowed elsewhere on the Atlantic coast.

“This is not a reason to celebrate because oil spills don’t stop at state lines,” said Sierra Weaver, an SELC senior attorney. “As long as any part of the Atlantic coast is open to drilling, all Atlantic states are at risk. Keep the champagne corked until the entire Atlantic coast is protected.”

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, for example, reached five states.

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

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