Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., stopped by Vancouver on Thursday to say “no” to offshore drilling along Washington’s coastline.
“We’re here today to say we don’t want the economy that depends so much on our coastal issue of fishing and natural resources to be destroyed by what could be a catastrophic oil event,” Cantwell said in a press conference at the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.
At this point, Washington and Oregon remain on a list for possible offshore drilling that is contained in a draft of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024.
Opponents of the drilling argue that it could impact the industry’s $50 billion contribution to the state economy and 191,000 jobs.
Washington asked to be exempt from the program, but so far only Florida has been given a waiver.
“We’re very frustrated because we turned our homework in on time six months ago and said we weren’t for this,” Cantwell said. “Florida did not say they were against it, and yet the secretary (Ryan Zinke) went and visited, and all of a sudden one day said, ‘You’re off the table.’ ”
She added that Washington has been consistently clear for decades on its stance against coastal oil drilling.
Cantwell was joined Thursday by representatives of Southwest Washington’s fishing and tourism economies.
Kathleen Nisbet-Moncy, chief operating officer of Goose Point Oysters, said a single oil spill could devastate their estuary.
“To allow something like that to happen in our coastal community is absurd,” Nisbet-Moncy said.
Her concerns were echoed by Larry Thevik, president of the Washington Dungeness Crab Fisherman’s Association, Port of Ilwaco Commissioner Butch Smith and Andi Day, executive director of the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau.
Thevik said that even if drilling did occur off Washington’s coast, the results would not be worth the risk.
He said estimated undiscovered reserves account for only half of 1 percent of estimated national reserves.
“At best, reserves off Oregon and Washington combined may provide the equivalent of 20 days of oil consumption,” Thevik said.
Smith said everything the industry has worked toward for hundreds of years is at risk.
“Please Mr. President, coastal Washington should be put immediately on the no-drill list,” he said. “Because we have jobs. We have some of the cleanest environment in the world. We don’t want to put those at risk. Not now, not ever.”
Call for action
Cantwell announced Thursday that she was joined by 15 legislators, including Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, in sending a letter to Zinke asking to take Washington and Oregon off the list.
The letter comes just days before an Interior Department public meeting on the issue Monday in Tacoma.
“There is a reason it has been decades since the waters off the coasts of Washington and Oregon have been considered for oil and gas leasing,” the letter reads. “Voluminous existing information documents the lack of oil and gas resources; absence of oil and gas industry interest; strong state and local opposition as expressed through laws, goals and policies of affected states; other uses of the waters to support our coastal economies that conflict with oil and gas activities; and extreme environmental and ecological risks.”
They also echoed the sentiments of Nisbet-Moncy, Thevik, Smith and Day stressing the importance of marine resources to the regional economy and the devastating impact drilling for oil would bring.
“We want the president and Secretary Zinke to know that local voices do matter,” Cantwell said.
