logo

Stop Offshore Drilling

What's New

Proposals to open Florida’s coastal waters to offshore drilling are making headlines.  In 2009, the Florida Legislature came closer than ever before to removing the ban on drilling in state waters, just 3-10 miles off our coastline. And Big Oil and their cronies in the U.S. Senate are up to their old tricks, sneaking rollbacks of protections for Florida's federal waters into a landmark energy and climate change bill!

Drilling for oil off our coasts is a destructive policy that will put our beaches and wild places at risk while doing nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil or the cost to consumers at the pump. We are in this mess because of years of doing the wrong thing, and it's time for a change. We need to use less oil by increasing fuel economy, increasing funding for public transportation and planning for better transportation systems.

How You Can Help

Click here to email your state representative. Tell our leaders to keep Big Oil away from Florida's beaches.

Brief Summary

Offshore Drilling: A Bad Idea Then, A Bad Idea Now

Florida's environment, economy and identity are defined by our shores. That’s why for decades Floridians have been united in their opposition to offshore drilling. The risks, we said, were too high; the rewards far too small.

But some of Florida's elected officials are ready to reverse course and open the door to offshore drilling.

We disagree. Allowing drilling off our shores was wrong for Florida years ago and it’s wrong for Florida today. Our environment--and our coastal economy--would suffer serious, perhaps catastrophic and long-lasting harm. It’s simply not worth it.

As this debate rages in the weeks and months to come, now more than ever, we need to let our leaders know where we stand.

Will Florida Stand United Against Drilling?
Allies of the oil industry in the Florida Legislature and Congress are aggressively pushing legislation that threatens our world famous coast. Incredibly, Governor Charlie Crist and some members of our congressional delegation have supported proposals that would promote drilling closer to Florida's beaches and undermine Florida's existing protections, including a repeal of the ban on drilling just three miles offshore, which has been in place since the 1980s. Florida's elected leaders have stood together against offshore drilling in the past. We need them to stand united again in defense of our coast now.

Oil Rigs: A Risk Florida’s Shores Can’t Afford
At each stage of testing, exploration, and production, the oil and gas business produces contaminated water, uses toxic drilling muds, and periodically spills oil and toxic liquids into the ocean.  Pollutants like mercury and persistent hydrocarbons contaminate fish and sea life near platforms and massive spills kill seabirds, sea turtles, fish and marine mammals. 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed over 100 drilling rigs and platforms and over 450 pipelines. The Minerals Management Service estimated almost one million gallons spilled during the hurricane from offshore facilities; the Coast Guard documented an estimated nine million gallons from onshore and offshore oil facilities were spilled. 

This August, a two-year old rig touted by the oil lobby as "the future of oil and gas exploration" ruptured and caused a massive nine million gallon leak off Australia's pristine Kimberly coastline. The West Atlas rig spewed oil into one of the ocean's busiest migratory routes for 73 days this Fall.

A catastrophic spill like what happened near Australia—one that could close down coastal tourism for weeks or months, is a real possibility.

We Have Cleaner, Safer Choices
Oil drilling proponents say we have no choice, given rising oil and gas prices. They’re wrong.

If our cars and trucks got an average of a couple more miles per gallon, we'd save more oil than exists off the entire coast of Florida. Yet federal gas mileage standards leave much room for improvement. Instead of allowing oil companies to drill off our coast, our governor and congressional delegation should be leading the fight in Washington and in Tallahassee for better gas mileage and clean energy.

Tell Our Leaders: Stop The Rush To Drill
The oil lobby would like us to believe that we can drill our way out of our nation's energy problems. We're not buying it. Opening our shores to drilling would only put our beaches and coastal waters at great risk for a small, short-term supply of oil and gas. We can do better.

State and federal leaders know this. But they're facing enormous pressure to take action against rising energy prices. Caving in to the oil lobby would give them a chance to appear strong and decisive. Unfortunately for us, though, we'd still face a long-term energy crisis while our environment and economy would face new risks due to the pollution and potential for catastrophic spills off our coast.

We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill—and start pushing sensible choices like using less oil by increasing fuel economy, increasing funding for public transportation and planning for better transportation systems.

Watch Environment Florida Director Mark Ferrulo on the CBS Evening News about offshore drilling.