Bands and policies of offshore oil drilling have been placed or lifted throughout the U.S. presidencies. In 2008, President George W. Bush allowed a federal ban on new ocean drilling to expire. During Obama’s time in office he finalized a 5-Year Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022 that protected the oceans from new ocean shore drilling lease sales. Our current President removed the approved 5-Year Leasing Program and plans to expand offshore drilling in the Oceans. According to “Beachapedia”, ”This drastic Draft Proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024 opens over 90% of the Outer Continental Shelf to new drilling and puts our nation’s coastal communities, beaches, surf breaks and marine ecosystems at risk of a catastrophic oil spill”. Offshore drilling is the processes of extracted oil from reserves that are beneath the Earth’s oceans. This extracting of oil has become popular because of the result of the increase of amount of oil and other petroleum products used each day. Since oceans cover most of the Earth’s surface, many oil reserves are located beneath the oceans water.

There are many negative environmental impacts that come with this process of extracting oil. One harmful impact are the seismic surveys. In order to locate and estimate the size of an offshore oil reserve, the drilling companies use a seismic survey, also known as a “air gun blasting”.  Ships use “air gun arrays” that releases high-decibel explosive impulses to map the seafloor. According to NRDC, “We do know that these intense sounds threaten the habitats of endangered whales and commercial fisheries, and cannot remotely be confined to the waters off individual states that approve offshore production.” Another very harmful impact are oil spills. According to Beachapedia, “Each year, about 880,000 gallons of oil are sent to the ocean from North American offshore oil drilling platforms, and that’s just during normal operations.” Oil spills are an unpreventable part of offshore oil drilling. Natural disasters can also cause oil spills. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina damaged over 100 platforms which caused the spill of over 8 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This resulted to be the largest U.S. oil spill since the Exxon Valdez.

The Draft Offshore Oil & Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024 would open thousands of miles, including regions that was once protected by this dangerous practice from ocean drilling. Surfrider Foundation has been fighting to prevent this plan from being finalized. It is our job and civic duty to help this foundation fight against this plan. The more people that help fight against this, the more likely we will be able to stop this Leasing Program draft.