Press Releases

LCV Statement on DOI 5-Year Plan for Offshore Drilling

May 19, 2022

Courtnee Connon, courtnee_connon@lcv.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the news that the Department of Interior will release the next draft of the 5-year offshore drilling plan, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released the following statement from Conservation Program Director Alex Taurel:

“We applaud Secretary Haaland and the Interior Department for recently canceling offshore drilling lease sales and for taking a deliberative and thoughtful approach to the forthcoming five year offshore drilling plan. Since leasing decisions won’t produce oil for years or decades, they have no impact on today’s gas prices. But new leases will keep us dependent on oil years or decades from now when our transition to cleaner energy sources must be far along so we meet our obligation to solve climate change and deliver pollution reductions to communities fighting for environmental justice.  Offshore drilling is a dirty and dangerous business that threatens coastal communities, economies and marine life, which is why implementing solutions now to allow for a future powered by clean energy must be the way forward. We look forward to the release of the next draft of DOI’s 5-year plan for offshore drilling and are counting on this administration to finalize a plan that schedules no new lease sales.”

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