Contact:
Tom Kies– Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast, (252) 726-6350, tom@nccoastchamber.com
Grant Bixby – Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast, grant@bixbyresidential.com

Call to Congress from Business Coalitions: Permanently Protect Our Coast

Coastal business alliances from across the country unite to urge Congress to permanently ban new offshore oil and gas drilling

A nationwide coalition of coastal business sent a joint letter to Congress calling for federal legislation permanently banning new offshore drilling in all U.S. waters. This advocacy represents a united effort from the business community to protect jobs and preserve coastal economies that are powered by healthy oceans and clean coasts, while mitigating the devastating consequences coastal communities will face from increasingly extreme weather and rising seas caused by climate change and fueled in part by emissions from offshore drilling.

President Biden paused new oil and gas leasing for all public lands and waters, including those offshore, while his administration conducts a review of the nation’s energy program. This is a great first step, but the ability to give coastal communities peace of mind by permanently protecting the ocean and coasts must come from federal legislation.

The joint letter, addressed to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer, highlights the economic benefit permanent protections would provide, reading in part:

Our coastal economy is inextricably tied to clean coastal waters and beaches, as well as a stable climate. Residents and people from all over the world – over 150 million visitors a year to California alone – frequent our coastline to fish, hike, golf, kayak, surf, wine and dine, and enjoy our beaches. Through activities like tourism, recreation and fishing, our nation’s clean coast economy powers 3.3 million jobs and $250 billion in GDP. This entire economy is threatened by the devastation of an oil spill and the specter of climate change.

The Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast (BAPPC), Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast (BAPAC) and the Florida Gulf Coast Business Coalition (FGCBC) have served as the leading business voices opposing new and expanded oil and gas development off our coast, representing more than 55,000 coastal businesses and 500,000 fishing families along the Pacific, Atlantic and Florida’s Gulf Coasts. This coalition is working to ensure the long-term health and economic vitality of the nation’s coastal businesses through responsible stewardship of the coastal and ocean waters.

Grant Bixby, Advisory Council, Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast

Tom Kies, President of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast

Robin Miller, Chair of the Florida Gulf Coast Business Coalition

The Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast (BAPAC) is the leading business organization working to ensure the long term health and economic vitality of the Atlantic seaboard through responsible stewardship of the coastal and ocean waters. Visit www.protectingtheatlanticcoast.org to learn more.