Friends of the earth and Louisiana coastal residents at odds on future of oil

 

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WASHINGTON, D.C. --Editor- While the people who live on the Gulf Coast want to continue deepwater drilling, Friends of the Earth maintain it is important to look at the big picture and the root causes of the tragedy.

The following is the declaration made by the organization in response to what is being referred to as the oil spill bill   in a press release posted today:


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this afternoon unveiled a
draft outline of a pared-down oil spill bill after officially abandoning
a broader attempt to address our climate and energy crises last week. 

“For a bill that was meant to respond to the consequences of our nation’s
crippling dependence on oil, it will not prevent oil disasters like the
one currently ravaging the Gulf Coast. This moment demanded aggressive
measures to end drilling and propel our country toward an oil-free future.

“The bill’s positive reforms include putting polluters like BP on the hook to pay the full costs of oil spill damage
and erecting a wall between revenue-takers and oil industry regulators
in the Department of the Interior. While the bill includes investments
in solutions like electric vehicles and energy efficient homes, they are
crumbs compared to the billions in taxpayer dollars that subsidize Big
Oil’s profits and pollution each year.

“Senators in bed with fossil fuel industry lobbyists have also hijacked this bill to
promote natural gas, a false solution. Natural gas extraction consumes
oil and is poisoning drinking water supplies from Texas to New York.

“The convergence of a favorable majority in Congress and the worst
environmental catastrophe in U.S. history presented a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to end our oil addiction.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration and Congress didn’t seize that
opportunity and future generations will suffer for it.

“In the absence of strong action from Congress, the Obama administration
must put a permanent moratorium on drilling and aggressively promote
policies to reduce oil consumption across the nation.”

In the meantime, people on the Gulf continue to ask the Obama
administration to end the moratorium on deepwater drilling and allow the
33 rigs not presently operating to continue.  While BP continues its
efforts to contain the oil spill that began on April 21 from the
Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, folks are concerned that the loss of
income from drilling for oil will have a devastating impact on the economic welfare of coastal residents.