New Offshore Drilling Analysis Shows What Trump’s Plan Puts At Stake

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s proposal to open up nearly all U.S. waters to oil and gas development threatens more than 2.5 million jobs and roughly $180 billion in gross domestic product in coastal states, according to an economic review by ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana.

The new analysis of fishing, tourism and recreation industry data comes in response to the administration’s sweeping offshore drilling plan aimed at opening huge swaths of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil exploration. The proposal, part of an ongoing “energy dominance” agenda, makes available for lease roughly 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

Diane Hoskins, a campaign director at Oceana, said the main takeaway from the review is that expanding offshore drilling is not worth the risks this activity would pose to coastal communities that rely on clean, healthy oceans.

“It’s time for [Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke] and Washington to listen to the millions of Americans who already made their voices heard on this issue,” she said. “They’re overwhelmingly saying ‘no’ to drilling off their coasts. And these numbers make it clear just how much is at stake.” 

Take, for example, Massachusetts, where commercial fishing, tourism and ocean recreation support 110,000 jobs, according to Oceana. State lawmakers there are among those urging the administration to abandon its offshore plans, noting the state’s marine economy generated more than $17.3 billion in 2015.

Source: huffingtonpost