Drilling plan could spell disaster for Gulf Coast dolphins and marine wildlife.

Offshore Oil Plan
Risks Wildlife, Coasts

Spills associated with offshore drilling can kill dolphins and other marine wildlife.

Urge the Minerals Management Service to reject expanded drilling off our coasts.

Help us send at least 30,000 messages before September 15th!

Ready to line our coasts with oil rigs that would pollute our waters, threaten dolphins and other marine wildlife and wreck coastal economies?

George Bush and Dick Cheney are making plans to do just that, and we’ve got less than two weeks to stop them!

Please urge the U.S. Minerals Management Service -- the federal agency accepting comments on the Administration’s plan -- to shelve the Bush/Cheney Administration’s latest offshore oil drilling scam.

As part of Defenders of Wildlife’s marine wildlife program and someone who has studied offshore drilling for more than three decades, I can tell you with absolute certainty that offshore drilling and sensitive coastal ecosystems are a dangerous combination.

• Offshore drilling contaminates water, routinely spilling oil and toxic liquids into our oceans and releasing hazardous fumes into our air.
• Pollutants like mercury and persistent hydrocarbons contaminate important marine habitat near platforms.
• Seismic testing associated with drilling can cause dolphins, whales and other marine mammals to become disoriented and stranded and -- in some cases -- even die.
• Massive spills that can result from drilling and increased tanker traffic can kill dolphins, seabirds, sea turtles, fish and marine mammals.

And while the environmental damage of offshore drilling may be significant, the savings to U.S. consumers would not be. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that drilling off our coasts would have "no significant" impact on domestic production until 2030, and even then “impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant."

Say “No!” to this awful plan: Tell the Minerals Management Service to reject calls for risky new drilling off our coasts.

Comments on the Bush/Cheney plan are due by Monday, September 15th, so please send your message today.

Respectfully,

Richard Charter Outer Continental Shelf Drilling Specialist Defenders of Wildlife