We Cannot Allow Offshore Drilling Off the Seacoast

New Hampshire’s beautiful natural resources are both a treasured and integral part of our way of life and economy.

That includes our Seacoast region, where our people and our economy rely on industries like tourism, recreation, and seafood to thrive. All across New England, our states’ ocean and coastal industries represent a vital economic resource — contributing more than $17.5 billion to our economy annually.

We should be doing everything possible to protect our pristine coastline, while building a cleaner, more affordable energy future. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration is pushing an agenda that is rapidly dismantling critical environmental protections.

Recently, the Trump Administration announced it is planning on opening up nearly all our nation’s waters to the dangers of offshore drilling — including New England’s coastline. This offshore drilling proposal would threaten our natural resources and the livelihoods of millions of Americans — attempting to open up over 90 percent of our nation’s coastal waters available for future oil and gas exploration and development.

We’ve seen the devastating impacts of what happens when offshore drilling goes wrong.

Offshore drilling has caused some of the greatest man-made natural disasters of our time — including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. That disaster — which dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico — hurt economies from Mississippi to Florida and threatened wildlife to a point so dire that we are still seeing effects today.

It is irresponsible and dangerous to open up more of our coastlines to this potential destruction.

In response to these proposals, I have joined with my colleagues from both parties to make clear that expanding offshore drilling is unacceptable.

I helped introduce the bipartisan New England Coastal Protection Act to ban offshore drilling along the New England Coast, as well as the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act to ban offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. These commonsense bills make clear that our coasts are off-limits. And they represent the views of Governors from both parties, local elected officials, businesses, scientists, and citizens who have condemned the Administration’s proposal.

The Trump Administration should be listening to the voices of those who are speaking out — rather than once again putting Big Oil profits ahead of our beautiful natural resources.

I am going to continue to fight against this reckless proposal and will work to protect all of our coasts, our environment, and our economy from the dangers of offshore drilling.