Dear President Biden and Secretary Haaland,

We urge the administration to reject new offshore fossil fuel leases in the National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program for 2023-2028 (“Five-Year Program”). We must put an end to drilling for oil and gas in our ocean if we are to limit the worst impacts of climate change, protect the health of our most vulnerable communities, and safeguard our threatened marine wildlife. The Five-Year Program, scheduled for release in September, is the place to make this literal sea change.

New oil and gas leasing on the nation’s OCS in the upcoming Five-Year Program is a step backward on climate that we cannot afford. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that any new fossil fuel development, including in our ocean, is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5  degrees Celsius; the International Energy Agency has similarly said new oil and gas fields are inconsistent with net zero emissions by 2050. Offshore lease sales lock in new production for decades, resulting in hundreds of millions of metric tons of CO2 emissions. By its own calculation, the Department of the Interior’s Five-Year Program as drafted would generate carbon emissions up to ten times the size of Alaska’s Willow project.

Expanded OCS oil and gas drilling would also perpetuate a legacy of harms to our coastal communities and wildlife. Researchers have found that particulate pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels is directly responsible for an estimated 350,000 deaths and $77 billion in health impacts annually, in the United States alone. Climate change will increase this health toll exponentially, as well as cause trillions of dollars in property damage. These tragic burdens are and will be disproportionately borne by some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, such as in the Gulf South. Every stage of offshore drilling has harmful impacts to marine life. From seismic blasting to oil spills, this dirty industry is a direct threat to ocean wildlife and the ecosystems that sustain them. If the administration is committed to championing equity and environmental justice and to combatting the biodiversity crisis, it cannot maintain the practice of leasing our public waters to the highest bidders.

The administration should consider the upcoming Five-Year Program to be a critical opportunity. As part of the nation’s global climate commitment, the President has committed to cut carbon emissions fifty percent by 2030 (as well as net zero by 2050). The buildout of clean energy infrastructure that will be spurred by the recently-passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act are predicted to lead to a 33 to 40 percent emissions reduction by 2030. A decision on your part to end new ocean oil and gas leasing would substantially contribute to closing the remaining 10 to 19 percent reduction gap. Conversely, however, continuing “business as usual” leasing policies would make this necessary task that much more difficult. As recent polling shows, the public strongly supports a marriage of transitioning to justly sourced renewable energy with ending any expansion of oil and gas drilling in our ocean.

More offshore leasing is as unnecessary for our energy security as it is disastrous for our climate and communities. The U.S. produces enough oil and gas that it far exceeds our domestic needs and is exported to other countries.  Moreover, because of the lag time between lease issuance and production, an end to new leasing would not meaningfully affect offshore production levels for almost a decade. Over that time, experts expect oil demand to decline significantly due to federal and state policies encouraging renewable energy development, incentivizing the transition to electric vehicles, and placing stricter limits on carbon emissions from cars and trucks.

The most recent IPCC report is clear: what we do, or fail to do, now will determine whether we will face a livable or catastrophic climate in the decades ahead. The current administration has set the country on a bold new course toward climate solutions. We now ask for your leadership to maintain this course, to meet the IPCC’s challenge, and to issue the Five-Year Program with no new leasing.

Sincerely,

[In addition to your support, this petition is also supported by over 200 environmental organizations including Friends of the Earth US, the Seattle Aquarium, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Zero Hour, 350 US, the World Wildlife Fund, Oceana and many more!]