Coasts

 

An Irreplaceable Treasure

Americans across the country treasure our coasts and beaches.  They provide endless opportunities for recreation, contribute a great deal to our economy, and are home to a wide array of wildlife, including manatees and sea turtles.  From Florida to New Jersey to California, our coasts are truly a part of our natural heritage, and they must be protected for future generations. 

 

Offshore drilling would threaten our coasts, our environment, tourism, and our way of life.  For these reasons, Congress created the first offshore oil and gas drilling moratorium in 1982, and it has been renewed every year since then.  In 1991, President George H. W. Bush instituted a separate set of protections on new coastal drilling, which President Bill Clinton extended through 2012, protecting large and sensitive areas off the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf coasts.

 

Our Coasts Threatened

Unfortunately, in 2006 Congress passed and the President signed into law the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (S. 3711).  This misguided new law opens eight million acres of Florida's Gulf Coast waters to offshore drilling rigs, including more than six million acres that were protected by the bipartisan moratorium on offshore drilling for the past twenty-five years.  While we strongly opposed this bill, it was not nearly as sweeping as the House version, which would have threatened our coasts all across the country.