Attorney General Maura Healey has filed public comments with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) opposing the agency’s effort to create a new five-year national offshore oil and gas leasing program that could open all currently restricted offshore areas to drilling, including Atlantic waters off the Massachusetts coast.
Healey argued that opening up the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas leasing would severely threaten the Massachusetts economy and the state’s coastal environment. Healey warned that an oil spill could devastate Massachusetts’ commercial fishing industry – the third largest in the country – and the state’s robust recreation and tourism industries.
“By opening up our coastal areas to drilling, the Trump administration is prioritizing Big Oil over the interest of Massachusetts’ commercial fishing industry, our economy and our environment,” Healey said in filed comments. “We will continue to fight back against these reckless moves by the administration that threaten our state’s prosperity and our precious natural resources.”
Citing the catastrophic impacts of Bouchard oil spill in Buzzards Bay in 2003, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association also opposes BOEM’s preparation of the new five-year leasing plan.
“The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association is extremely grateful for Attorney General Maura Healey’s commitment and fortitude for the historic commercial fishing industry here in the commonwealth,” Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said in a statement. “There are a multitude of negative impacts to the ocean and the resources the commercial fishing industry depends upon to bring clean and sustainable seafood to Americans.”
Following the issuance of president Trump’s Offshore Energy Strategy Executive Order in April, BOEM issued a request for information and comments on its intent to develop a new five-year plan for oil and gas lease sales in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. The current five-year-plan, which was finalized on Jan. 17, 2017, by the Obama administration, excludes leasing for gas and oil exploration and drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf.
The Massachusetts commercial fishing industry generated $7.3 billion in seafood sales in 2015. The state’s maritime economy employed 90,500 workers, paid $3.9 billion in wages, generated more than $9.8 billion in sales and contributed $6.4 billion to the gross state product. More than 41,000 businesses and 500,000 commercial fishing families along the Atlantic coast oppose offshore oil and gas drilling because of the harm it poses to the coastal ecosystem.
An oil spill along the state’s 1,519 miles of tidal coastline – marked by destination beaches in areas like Cape Cod, Cape Ann and Plum Island – could destroy Massachusetts’ tourism and recreation industry, Healey contends.
