FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
April 30, 2010
Contact: Kristina
Johnson--415.977.5619
White House Suspends New
Drilling
Oil Spill Hits Gulf Coast Shoreline
GULF COAST –
As oil from a massive Gulf Coast offshore drilling disaster began to touch the
shoreline, White House senior adviser David Axelrod announced on Good Morning
America that "no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we
find out what happened here."
In
response to the spill, Sierra Club has created an online Oil Spill Action Center
with updated information, and volunteer sign-ups. http://www.sierraclub.org/oilspill
Statement of
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune:
We are
pleased that the White House is signaling a suspension of any new off-shore
drilling during the investigation, but there should be no doubt left that
drilling is too dirty and dangerous for our coasts and the people who live
there. This offshore facility was supposed to be state-of-the-art. We've been
assured again and again that the hundreds of offshore drilling rigs along our
beaches are completely safe. Now, we've seen workers tragically killed. We've
seen our ocean lit on fire, and now we're watching hundreds of thousands of
gallons of toxic oil seep towards wetlands and wildlife habitat.
This
same disaster could happen at any one of the hundreds of drilling platforms off
our coasts, at any moment. It could happen at the drilling sites they've
proposed opening along the beaches of the Atlantic Coast.
We don't
need to pay this price for energy. We have plenty of clean energy solutions
already in place that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, create
good, safe jobs, and breathe new life into our economy. We can save more oil
through simple efficiency measures than could be recovered by new drilling on
our coastlines.
This disaster changes everything. We have hit rock-bottom
in our fossil fuel addiction. This tragedy should be a wake up call. It's time
to take offshore drilling off the table for good.
Oil Spill Facts:
* The oil spill
exceeds the worst-case scenario predicted by BP when it filed its exploration
plan with the government. The spill is estimated at roughly 210,000 gallons a
day. In BP's exploration plan, the company outlined a worst-case scenario of
162,000 gallons a day.
* The disaster may have
been prevented by a special shut-off switch, but BP did not purchase the switch
and after drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, the Interior
Department's Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling,
decided the device wasn't needed. [Wall St. Journal 4/30/2010]
* At its current rate, the spill could surpass by next week the size of
the 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped lead to the far-reaching moratorium on
oil and gas drilling off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts
*
Some estimates show it could take 3-4 months to contain the spill. By that time,
the spill could exceed the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in
Alaska.
* 59 Fatalities, More Than 1,300 Injuries, 853
Fires. There have been nearly 60 casualties and more than 1,300 injuries
on the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico alone since 2001. “Working in the oil
industry is more dangerous than working in coal mines.” [CBS,
4/22/2010]
BP Facts:
* $5.6 Billion In
Profits. During the first quarter of 2010, “BP said its profit rose to
$6.08 billion from $2.56 billion during the same period of 2009. Excluding the
impact of energy prices on unsold inventories as well as $49 million of one-time
items, and BP would have earned $5.65 billion, topping consensus estimates by
about $900 million.” Profits increased 135% from 2009. [Bloomberg,
4/27/2010]
* 41% Raise For BP’s CEO. “Chief Executive
Tony Hayward's total remuneration and share awards rose 41% in 2009 on
performance bonuses from improved operations which made the company one of the
best performing oil majors in the fourth quarter, despite lower full-year
profits due to the fall in the oil price.” [Wall Street Journal,
3/5/2010]
* $16 Million In Lobbying. BP spent $16
million lobbying in 2009. [Opensecrets]
*
$3 Billion In The World's Dirtiest Oil. Meanwhile the company invested $3
billion in 2007 in the dirtiest source of oil on earth: Canadian tar sands. “The
result will be the development of a major new Canadian oil field and the
modernization and expansion of the Toledo refinery to allow far greater use of
Canadian heavy oil and to increase clean fuels production by as much as 600,000
gallons a day.” [Climate Progress, 12/18/2007]
*
$900 Million In Alternative Energy Budget Cuts. In 2009, BP cut its
alternative energy budget to between $500 million and $1 billion from $1.4
billion in 2008. “BP has shut down its alternative energy headquarters in
London, accepted the resignation of its clean energy boss and imposed budget
cuts in moves likely to be seen by environmental critics as further signs of the
oil group moving “back to petroleum.” [The Guardian, 6/28/2009]
David Willett
Deputy Director of
Communications
Sierra Club
(202) 675-6698 (w)
(202) 491-6919
(m)
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http://www.sierraclub.org