Mikulski statement on opposition to Obama plan to allow drilling off the East Coast

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) issued the following statement on the Department of Interior’s 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program, which would allow offshore drilling off the Atlantic Coast. Senator Mikulski, along with several colleagues, wrote a letter in August to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell asking her to protect the East Coast from offshore oil and gas drilling.

“I am absolutely opposed to offshore drilling and always will be,” Senator Mikulski said. “While I am pleased that Maryland was not included in the Department of Interior’s plan, I am concerned that our neighboring states were. As we saw after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, when oil starts to leak it knows no boundaries.

Drilling off the coast of Virginia and other states along the Eastern Seaboard could pose great risks to the coastal economy of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay. Offshore drilling can devastate the environment, harming our unique and fragile coastline and wreaking havoc on the coastal communities whose economies rely heavily on tourism.