Public Statement Opposing Offshore Drilling

The Dominican Sisters Conference is sharing the Public Statement of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Opposing Offshore Drilling. We hope that you can adapt and/or use it in your ministry.

We are alarmed by the Trump Administration’s decision to open federal waters to new offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. Lifting the ban on new offshore drilling makes no sense as our nation reels from the present impacts of climate change with record-freezing temperatures, unprecedented wildfires, and crippling hurricanes. Governors of coastal states also fear the potential negative impact on tourism, fisheries, and recreation threatened by the specter of oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and devastated the Gulf Coast. This move is all the more alarming as the Trump Administration rolls back oil rig safety regulations put in place after the Deepwater disaster.

As women of faith concerned about the degradation of God’s creation and the future of humanity, we urge elected leaders to oppose this reckless unraveling of environmental protections and take legislative steps to put the nation on the path of a clean, renewables-based economy.”