Collins, King back bipartisan effort to bar New England offshore drilling
Courtesy Offices of both Senators
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, are backing bipartisan legislation to prohibit offshore oil and gas drilling in New England, they announced on Monday.
The bill, known as the New England Coastal Protection Act, was first introduced last year and has been reintroduced into the Senate by a group of New England lawmakers.
Before the legislation was first introduced last year, Collins and King laid out some of their concerns in a letter then-U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Among other things they argued that even minor spills could cause serious harm to the lobster industry, which contributes an estimated $1.7 billion to the state’s economy, in addition to hurting other fisheries, aquaculture, and coastal tourism.
On Monday, they elaborated on those concerns in a joint statement.
“The waters off Maine’s coast provide a healthy ecosystem for our state’s fisheries and support a vigorous tourism industry, both of which sustain thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in revenue for Maine each year,” they said.
They added: “With our environment so closely tied to the vitality of Maine’s economy, we cannot risk the health of our ocean on a shortsighted proposal that could impact our state for generations. We are proud to join our colleagues from New England to underscore the necessity of protecting our waters from offshore drilling.”
While the Trump Administration has signaled that plans to open new coastline to offshore drilling were tentatively sidelined, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management continues to review applications for permits to conduct seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean, a precursor to oil and gas drilling, according to Monday's news release.
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