Offshore drilling | Be a Seed for Change

It’s been one year now since the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico – costing eleven people their lives and eventually releasing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the marine ecosystem.

We have just one week to let the Obama administration know that the new national ocean policy they’re writing must include restrictions on offshore drilling, especially in the Arctic. Sign your name to the letter we’ll be delivering by clicking the take action button below.

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org

The accident was a horrible example of the risks that oil companies like BP are willing to take with our national treasures just to make a profit and that they do it with the backing of our government. And while it will take years to fully understand the impacts the disaster had on the Gulf, one thing is clear: our lack of a comprehensive national ocean policy failed us a year ago.

That can change. Right now, the Obama administration is in the process of developing a new National Ocean Policy. They’re testing the waters to see how engaged the voting public is on this issue by allowing for public comments up until April 27th. I will be writing a letter on behalf of Greenpeace and submitting it as part of the process and I’d love it if you joined me by signing on to the letter yourself.

Your signature will send a message to the Obama administration that the public is still paying attention and that the dead turtles and dolphins still washing up along the Gulf coast one year after the disaster are not an acceptable side effect of our reliance on unsafe offshore drilling.

It’s time we had a national ocean policy that is for the oceans and all who use them – and not just big businesses looking to make a profit. We can’t afford another BP Deepwater disaster.

But you can bet that the oil companies are going to do everything they can to keep doing business as usual. We can’t let them be the only voice heard in this process. Help us get 40,000 signatures before April 27th by signing today.

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org

Together we’ll send a message to the Obama administration that we want a national ocean policy that doesn’t include disasters like the one in the Gulf last year.

For the oceans,

John Hocevar

Greenpeace Oceans Campaign Director

Urge Interior Secretary Salazar to stop BP‘s next drilling disaster before it even happens!

Right now the only thing standing between BP and its next big drilling disaster is the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. BP built a gravel drilling island three miles off Alaska’s north coast and classified the Liberty drilling project as “onshore,” thereby dodging the recent moratorium on offshore drilling in the arctic waters off Alaska. BP calls Liberty one of its “biggest challenges to date,” and if it moves forward, the company will push the limits of drilling in Alaska’s Arctic, just as it pushed the limits of deepwater drilling in the Gulf with the Deepwater Horizon.

What BP is proposing is crazy. The company’s current plan calls for a well to be drilled that extends two miles below the seabed and then six to eight miles sideways to get at the oil they believe lies below federal waters in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea. It’s a disaster waiting to happen in a place where it’s simply impossible to respond to and clean up a large oil spill.

Allowing the company responsible for the worst oil spill in US history to attempt such a risky drilling project in the ice-infested waters of Alaska is the true definition of insanity repeating the same mistakes yet expecting different results. Take action now and ask Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to stop BP from moving forward with Liberty.

It took BP more than three months to end the gusher in the Gulf, and the region will be feeling the effects of the nearly 5 million barrels of oil that were spilled for decades to come. Alaska’s arctic marine environment is even more fragile than the Gulf of Mexico, and moreover, BP lacks adequate response assets in this remote part of the state where darkness, intense cold and storms, and solid or broken sea ice are the norm for much of the year. It’s no wonder the US Coast Guard called an oil spill in Arctic waters a “nightmare scenario.”

BP’s own analysis says there’s an eight percent chance of a large oil spill at Liberty. Would you get onto a plane if the pilot told you there was an eight percent chance of it crashing? Didn’t think so.

BP has already built Liberty Island and has received all of its permits except for one the federal government’s final sign off on BP’s “application for a permit to drill.” Secretary Salazar can deny this final permit, urge him to stop BP’s next big drilling disaster now.

Sincerely,

Melanie Duchin
Arctic Program Director