Overview | Fact Sheet

What’s New
Massachusetts’ coastal waters are among the world’s most beautiful. For generations, Bay Staters have headed to the coast to fish, camp, swim and whale watch. Fortunately, for 25 years, federal law has placed the beautiful coast of Massachusetts off-limits to oil and gas drilling. Yet that might soon change. In July 2005, President Bush signed a law that allows testing for oil and gas deposits off our coast. Now the oil industry is pushing to lift all protections against drilling off the entire eastern seaboard, including Massachusetts. Fortunately, the Massachusetts oversight agency is standing up for the citizens and coastal industries of Massachusetts by opposing this law’s provisions which allow for drilling off our coast. Read the Romney Administration’s letter opposing oil and gas development off our coast. (273 KB)

How You Can Help
Please take a moment to thank Susan Snow-Cotter, Director of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management for protecting the Massachusetts coast.

Brief Summary
For 25 years, federal law has placed the Massachusetts coast off-limits to oil and gas drilling. Yet that might soon change. The Bush Administration and the Congressional Leadership are looking to drill anywhere and everywhere and drilling offshore seems to be a likely next step. Emboldened by their recent victories that bring them closer than they’ve ever been to drilling in the Arctic, the oil and gas industry is seeking to open up all coastal waters, including those off our coast. The Energy Policy Act, passed this summer, lays the groundwork for drilling by allowing testing for oil and gas off our coast. While there is no plan set yet as to where they will test, they can technically inventory anywhere. We need to act now.

The effects of offshore oil drilling would be devastating. Offshore drilling produces a steady stream of pollution which harms marine wildlife and destroys coastal wetlands. A single offshore rig can drill between 50 and 100 wells, each dumping 25,000 pounds of toxic metals such as lead, chromium and mercury and potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene and xylene, into the ocean. An oil spill in Buzzard’s Bay a few years ago reminded us all about the detrimental and long-term effects of such spills.

Oil drilling proponents say that we have no choice, given rising oil and gas prices. They’re wrong. Before we look into drilling anywhere, we should increase fuel efficiency to make cars go further on a gallon of gas, move forward with renewable energy projects, like Cape Wind, and expand energy efficiency programs.

We cannot allow the Bush Administration and the oil industry to ruin our precious Atlantic; lifting our coastal protections to allow oil drilling is the wrong idea. More.