On Thursday, April 22, the deep ocean oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to its sinking, the rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP, burned for 36 hours after a blowout in which 11 workers lost their lives.

This spill has become the deadliest and most massive in the history of the United States, officially eclipsing the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill on May 27, 2010. It shows that oil drilling is inherently dirty and dangerous. Now that BP’s latest “Top Kill” manuever, in which mud is forced down into the blown-out well, has failed, engineers are trying again to cap the well. First, however, they must sever a pipe; in doing so, the flow of oil could be increased by 20 percent. Attempts to stop the well have become riskier and more desperate as the failures pile up.

This spill has had significant political, economic, and environmental repercussions. We have created this page as a resource with our analyses of these implications and information about our response to the spill, as well as some ideas on how we can move past fossil fuels.

Political Implications

In March, 2010 President Obama announced plans to open up huge swaths of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Alaskan coasts for offshore drilling exploration. For more than twenty years, these areas had been off limits due to presidential and congressional moratoriums on offshore drilling. President Obama has since suspended offshore drilling authorizations in these areas while a report on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is generated, and his staff has indicated that this spill could cause President Obama to reverse course on offshore drilling.

On March 27, 2010, President Obama gave a press conference in which he extended to six months a moratorium on offshore drilling permits, and canceled some leases in the Arctic and off the coast of Virginia. Read Friends of the Earth’s reaction here.

On May 12, 2010, Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman released the American Power Act, climate and energy legislation that they, with an assist from Senator Lindsey Graham, had been working on for months. Despite the disaster in the Gulf, this bill includes provisions for expanding offshore drilling and a raft of benefits for fossil fuels industries. Though many have used the disaster in the Gulf to round up support for this legislation, the call should be precisely the opposite. Any climate and energy bill that clings to a dirty and dangerous fossil fuel-based energy program is untenable; this spill should be a wakeup call to senators who may be asked to consider climate and energy legislation this year.

Several other pieces of legislation dealing with the oil spill and offshore drilling have been introduced in the wake of the disaster in the gulf. One such bill, the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, introduced by Senator Robert Menendez, would raise the disaster liability cap for oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion. Congress should consider this bill swiftly, and should also act to do away with giveaways, like free oil leases, to a dirty and dangerous industry.

In response to the gulf disaster, President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar have proposed splitting up the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the corrupt agency in charge of offshore drilling leases, safety, and drilling regulation. Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica, in testimony before Congress in 2007 about the reform of MMS, proposed removing MMS from under the umbrella of the Department of the Interior. Any reform short of that, including the proposals by President Obama and Secretary Salazar, comes up short.

Economic Implications

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will have serious economic consequences, especially for tourism and fishing.

BP’s plans to stop the flow of oil are the same as they were in 1979 — as the industry came up with ways to drill farther and drill deeper, safety innovations were not emphasized, and development stagnated. Drilling a relief well would take several months, and it’s feasible that it could be washing ashore throughout the summer (oil has already washed ashore from Louisiana to Florida). The oil spill will disrupt tourism. The oil in the water will discourage recreational boating, snorkeling and scuba diving, swimming, beaches, nature parks and preserves, and other resident and tourist attractions.

The presence of oil in the water will devastate oyster and shrimp fishing. Shrimp fishing in the gulf makes up 70 percent of the national shrimp catch. Louisiana officials opened shrimp fishing season early to try to minimize the economic impacts, but shrimp fishermen have already filed suit against BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and Cameron International Corp. for anticipated loss of revenue.

Environmental Implications

The environmental implications of the oil spill in the gulf are vast. The catastrophe has eclipsed the Exxon Valdez oil spill as the worst in U.S. history. With flow estimates between 19,000 and 60,000 barrels a day, the Gulf of Mexico spill could trump Exxon Valdez many times over. Animals and marine life can be poisoned by the oil through ingestion. Coming in contact with the oil can cause animals’ skin to lose its waterproof, thermal and buoyant qualities. Contamination from oil can also disrupt their reproductive success and the food chain as a whole.

Moving Beyond Fossil Fuels

President Obama’s plan to expand offshore drilling would account for only 200,000 barrels of oil per day, enough to make 3.9 million gallons of gasoline. Through smart policies and investment, we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and make offshore drilling unnecessary. The links to the right explore some options we have to move beyond fossil fuels.

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Click here to download Friends of the Earth fact sheets about the gulf oil spill:
http://www.foe.org/sites/default/files/OilSpill_0.pdf

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Press Communiqués

It’s Not Just BP That Bears Responsibility for Spill

May 2, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Friends of the Earth’s president, Erich Pica, had the following response to President Barack Obama’s remarks this afternoon in Louisiana:

“President Obama was correct when he said BP is responsible for this spill. But the government bears responsibility too, as it failed to protect U.S. waters and the people who depend on them. Offshore oil drilling is inherently dirty and dangerous. In order to fulfill its responsibility to protect its citizens and territory, the government must establish a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling.”

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Oil Spill Continues to Leak 1,000 Barrels Per Day into Gulf of Mexico

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tragedy demonstrates oil is dirty and dangerous—leads to renewed challenges to offshore drilling

Washington, D.C.—Last Thursday, the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig leased to oil giant BP, sank off the coast of Louisiana after an explosion. Eleven oil rig workers are still missing and presumed dead in what is shaping up to be the worst oil disaster in the U.S. since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

The crude oil continuing to leak from an underwater well at the site of the wrecked drilling platform now stretches across an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, creating a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico only 36 miles away from U.S. shores. At least 42,000 gallons of oil per day are still gushing into the gulf, while the U.S. Coast Guard races to contain the expanding oil spill.

The explosion and subsequent oil spill come only three weeks after President Obama announced that he plans to open vast swaths of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil drilling. More than 16,000 activists have now joined Friends of the Earth’s call for President Obama to reconsider his plan for more offshore drilling. See the petition here.

Friends of the Earth Clean Vessels Campaign Director Marcie Keever had the following statement:

“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the human, environmental, and economic costs of offshore oil drilling. Not only are oil spills extremely harmful to marine life, they also put coastal communities and local industries such as commercial and recreational fishing at risk.

“The explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill should dispel any assertions that expanded offshore oil drilling is either safe or environmentally friendly. President Obama should be advocating for clean energy alternatives, such as stronger fuel efficiency standards and investment in public transportation, that don’t perpetuate our dependence on outdated, dirty fossil fuels.

“As the Senate scrambled this week to unveil a climate bill written by Big Oil for Big Oil that’s rife with giveaways to polluting special interests, President Obama and Congress need to know that expanded offshore oil drilling endangers our welfare and the future of our planet. Offshore drilling should have no place in our nation’s energy policy.”

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TV Ads Take on ’Drill, Baby, Drill’ in Wake of Spill

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Friends of the Earth Responds to Gulf Oil Spill with TV Ad Taking on Palin, Steele and ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’

Ad pressures President Obama to abandon pro-drilling stance, will air in Florida and Virginia

Washington, D.C.—Friends of the Earth released a TV ad today that takes the fight to “drill, baby, drill” sloganeers in the wake of the mounting oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

The 30-second ad, which will air in drilling debate hotspots Florida and Virginia, can be viewed below.

“The oil catastrophe in the Gulf should serve as a wake-up call,” said Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica. “Offshore drilling is inherently dirty and dangerous, and it doesn’t belong in our nation’s energy policy. Unfortunately, instead of acting in the nation’s interest, President Obama has followed the lead of Sarah Palin.”

“From now on, we need an energy policy based on clean solutions, not cheap slogans,” Pica said. “There are all sorts of ways to meet our nation’s energy needs without new drilling. Investments in public transportation, electrified rail, and stronger fuel economy standards are just a few examples. President Obama and Congress should pursue these policies and ban offshore drilling.”

The Friends of the Earth ad mixes audio and video footage of Palin and others chanting simplistic drilling slogans with images of the ongoing disaster in the Gulf and other oil spills. It closes with the reality that “we have better energy solutions” onscreen.

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Contact:
Nick Berning, 202-222-0748 (office), 703-587-4454 (mobile), nberning foe.org
Kelly Trout, 202-222-0722, ktrout foe.org