Stopping offshore drilling
Protecting our Southern coasts
Our Southern beaches are world-famous tourist destinations, and our fisheries are among the most productive in the world. Clean water and unspoiled beaches provide billions of dollars in revenue to our coastal states. That’s why state and local officials have overwhelmingly opposed opening the Atlantic to offshore drilling. One of our driving priorities for the past decade has been to protect the Atlantic Ocean from all forms of fossil-fuel exploration and drilling.
And we’re also working to ensure the health and safety of Gulf of Mexico communities who have historically borne the brunt of offshore drilling. We have opposed new leasing in the Gulf based on threats to Black and Brown communities, the climate, and the natural resources that are still recovering from the effects of the historic Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. We have been part of extensive efforts to improve safety regulations for existing drilling and help this region transition away from harmful fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.
Facing multiple challenges
SELC has long been committed to protecting our Southern coasts from offshore drilling. We were among the first in the nation to file lawsuits responding to the environmental disaster of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. What our attorneys saw there solidified our position that we both had to clean up this dirty industry where it already exists, and that we could never let oil drilling get a foothold in the Atlantic. Tourism and fishing are the economic backbone of hundreds of communities along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, relying on a healthy environment to support healthy communities. And our beautiful and biologically rich Southern Coast features some of the most beloved places in the country, including the Chesapeake Bay, the Pamlico Sound, the ACE Basin, the Golden Isles, Dauphin Island, and Mobile Bay.
Despite all of this, both the Obama and the Trump administrations raised the possibility of opening the Atlantic to drilling, and both of them and the Biden administration proposed to keep drilling in the Gulf.
We have worked with partners, coastal residents and coastal businesses to elevate their voices and raise their objections. For many of our communities, oil-industry plans risked thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in community revenue. On the Atlantic, the coastal outcry led the first Trump administration to ban drilling off the coasts of Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas until 2032. We are continuing to work with partners to ensure this ban stays in place through 2032 and beyond. And we are still fighting to protect at-risk communities in the Gulf as the administration proposes even more lease sales there.
Virginia’s coastal tourism brings in more than $4 billion into the state every year. The vitality of our businesses in coastal communities is dependent on the environmental well-being of our waters.
Laura Habr, co-owner of Croc’s 19th Street Bistro in Virginia Beach
Going to court
It’s not just drilling that puts our coasts at risk—the search for oil and gas itself can be destructive. In addition to our on-the-ground work with communities to stop offshore drilling, we went to court to successfully to stop the dangerous first step in the process: the sonic mapping of the ocean floor in the search for oil deposits. The loud airgun blasts used by the seismic industry are known to harm fisheries and ocean life, particularly the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
What’s next
As the Trump Administration looks to open more waters than ever to oil and gas leasing, we are continuing to work with partners, coastal residents and coastal businesses to ensure the Atlantic remains off limits and that communities in the Gulf are protected from further harm.
Additional Resources
