New England senators introduce offshore drilling ban

Responding to a recent decision by the Department of the Interior to open up federal Atlantic waters to offshore oil and natural gas exploration and drilling, New England Senators have introduced legislation to ban offshore drilling in the region.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced earlier this month the offshore leasing expansion would encompass around 90 percent of the U.S. coast. The New England legislators, which include U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine), along with democrats from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, have responded with the New England Coastal Protection ban.

“The waters off Maine’s coast provide a healthy ecosystem for our state’s fisheries and support a vigorous tourism industry, both of which support thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in revenue for Maine each year,” Collins and King said in a joint statement. “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 Maine people for generations”

The pair earlier wrote Zinke a letter directly, stating their opposition and pointing out that even minor spills could decimate the lobster industry–a $1.7 billion stakeholder in their state’s economy–as well as harm fisheries, aquaculture, and coastal tourism.