Press Release: 2025-01-07

Senator Markey Applauds Biden Administration Announcement to Protect Atlantic and Pacific Coasts from Offshore Drilling

 

Washington (January 6, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement today after the Biden administration announced a block of offshore oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of federal waters.

“By banning offshore oil drilling on the East Coast, President Biden’s bold action will ensure that New England’s breathtaking and treasured ocean is kept safe from oil spills and environmental devastation,” said Senator Markey. “Our fishermen, seaside communities, and precious ecosystems deserve this peace of mind and this protection from pollution. I applaud this decision to put the safeguarding of Massachusetts’ economy, cultural heritage, and environment above the interests of Big Oil barons.”

Senator Markey has long been an opponent of offshore drilling off the East Coast, leading his colleagues in calling on the Trump administration to protect the coastlines of the United States from offshore oil drilling in 2017 and introducing legislation prohibit the Interior Secretary from revising the approved offshore drilling plan to open up new areas to drilling. 

Senator Markey was the leading Congressional investigator into the BP oil spill. In 2010, as then-Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, Senator Markey led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to the Gulf of Mexico to assess the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its impacts. Senator Markey also chaired the first Congressional hearing on Deepwater Horizon to investigate the spill. Senator Markey succeeded in getting major provisions of his oil spill legislation included in the bipartisan Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, which was included in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Fiscal Year 2023.

Senator Markey is a co-sponsor of the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, which would prevent any new or renewed leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in the Arctic Ocean Planning Area.