Greens warn against more drilling ahead of Gulf spill anniversary

Lawmakers and environmental groups are using the upcoming five-year anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to warn against more offshore drilling.

“We shouldn’t even be talking about potentially opening up our East Coast to drilling when oil companies still haven’t learned the lessons from the BP spill and when safe, clean energy options like wind and tidal energy could power a new generation of American jobs,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement.

He held an event with green groups and environmental experts on Capitol Hill Thursday to make their case.

{mosads}The new push comes after the Obama administration announced plans in January to allow off-shore drilling in three locations near Alaska and along the Atlantic coast stretching from Virginia to Georgia. The plan would also lease out new drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

Republicans have complained that the plan is too restrictive, calling for more drilling in the Atlantic and the Gulf. But green groups have slammed Obama for pushing it.

“We can’t afford to put the Gulf, the Arctic Ocean or the Eastern Seaboard in danger of another BP-style disaster that would threaten our communities and climate,” National Resources Defense Council Executive Director Peter Lehner said.

“The government must do all it can to reduce the inherent risks that come with drilling below the ocean surface and rein in the industry — not allow it to expand.”

“The science is clear that in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate disruption — consequences already being felt by many coastal communities — we must leave these dirty fuels in the ground,” added Athan Manuel, the director of Lands Protection for the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign in a statement. “The Obama administration should revise its offshore drilling plans to avoid undermining other climate progress.”

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 and releasing 3.19 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The incident led Obama to withdraw a plan that would have allowed drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, something environmentalists now warn could lead to a spill of its own. 

“As we consider our energy future, we must not allow the lessons of Deepwater Horizon to go unheeded,” Center for American Progress Ocean Policy Director Michael Conathan said in a statement.