04.25.19

Chair Grijalva: Administration Withdrawal of Five-Year Drilling Plan Shows Power of Bipartisan Opposition – Permanent Protections Are the Next Step

Washington, D.C. – Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) released the following statement on the Trump administration’s decision to halt development of the five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing, which has been in development since the spring of 2017. The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes in the wake of a federal ruling in Alaska reinstating a ban on oil and gas drilling across much of the Arctic Ocean.

 “This administration has treated public waters like a bottomless cash cow for Big Oil from day one, and if it takes a court order to get them to see reason, so be it. The bipartisan opposition that killed this plan now needs to turn into support for permanent protections for the communities that depend on healthy oceans and healthy coasts. In the meantime, the administration’s reversal is an enormous win for every American who believes there’s more to environmental policy than Chevron’s bottom line. I’m proud to help lead the fight for transparency on this broken process, and that fight doesn’t end here.”

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