What's New
On April 20, BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore platform exploded and
caught fire, causing a major oil spill.
The accident has claimed the lives of 11 rig workers and caused the
spillage of 210,000 gallons of oil every day into habitat for
endangered sea turtles, six species of whale, brown pelicans and more
marine animals.
It couldn't be clearer that offshore drilling is too dirty and too dangerous for Virginia.
Yet, after over 25 years of protection, Virginia's coasts are in danger from oil and gas drilling. The leasing process has already begun to sell our ocean to the highest bidder. We cannot afford to put our coast and our water at risk.
The benefits will be meager: the recoverable oil could supply U.S. demand for less than three days and natural gas would last barely two weeks, not even enough to lower gas prices. We face great threats to the Chesapeake Bay just 50 miles from our coasts.
The amount of recoverable oil and gas is a drop in the bucket, but it also puts marine and coastal ecosystems at risk, increases air pollution, and undermines the tourism and fishing industries.
How You Can Help
Big Oil must not drill off Virginia's coast. It is a senseless proposal that solves nothing. Virginia will take all the risk and see no benefits. Sign this petition to stand up to Big Oil and reject offshore drilling. Sign here
Summary
Big Oil could begin drilling just 50 miles from Virginia’s
unique Chincoteague National Seashore where the ponies roam free…50 miles from
the hundreds of thousands of beachgoers at Virginia Beach…50 miles from the
mouth of the threatened Chesapeake Bay…and right in the path of the last 350 migrating
northern right whales.
America’s energy crisis is polluting
our air and water, harming our health, stalling our economy, threatening our
security and fueling global warming.
We are at an energy crossroads and have a big choice to make. We cannot perpetuate these problems with drilling on our coasts.
Environment Virginia is doing two things right now to stop drilling off our coasts:
- First, we are working to restore the drilling moratorium everywhere;
- Second, we are working to expand the country’s use of renewable electricity and fuels and to make cars go farther on a gallon of gas so we don’t need the little bit of oil we might find off Virginia.
