RRI Fights Massive Offshore Drilling Expansion Bill
Image courtesy of Protect the Arctic.
RRI joins a coalition of ocean and coastal advocates in strong opposition to the House-passed budget reconciliation bill—legislation that, if signed into law, would be the most destructive anti-environmental and anti-ocean policy in U.S. history.
This bill prioritizes corporate profits and billionaire tax cuts over clean water, coastal resilience, and the health of our oceans. At a time when coastal communities are already on the frontlines of the climate crisis, we should be investing in bold climate action, coastal protection, and science-based solutions. Instead, this bill does the opposite: it supercharges offshore drilling, strips away wildlife protections, and undermines clean energy advancements that our coasts and communities urgently need.
"This reconciliation bill represents everything wrong with how corporate interests capture our environmental policy—using budget processes to gut marine protections while subsidizing the very industries destroying our oceans,” said Chance Cutrano, Director of Programs at the RRI. “Real coastal security comes from healthy marine ecosystems, thriving fishing communities, and clean energy that works with natural systems rather than against them."
Among its most egregious provisions, the budget reconciliation bill:
Mandates offshore lease sales, royalty reductions, and permit pay-offs: In a blatant giveaway to Big Oil, the bill requires 30 offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, regardless of environmental risks, public opposition, or lack of demand. It also lowers royalty rates from 16.67% to just 12.5%, adding to the $20 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies the industry already receives each year. And through a new pay-to-play permitting scheme, oil and gas companies can shortcut environmental reviews and evade judicial review entirely.
Endangers marine wildlife: The bill fast-tracks offshore drilling and seismic testing by reinstating flawed Trump-era environmental reviews under multiple statutes, including a review that violated the Endangered Species Act, and by providing exemptions for industry under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This radical rollback – unprecedented in its scope – leaves whales, sea turtles, and other iconic marine life unprotected from pollution, noise, and habitat destruction, endangering them further.
Guts critical funding for coastal communities: The bill rescinds all remaining National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funding for coastal restoration and resilience, which is helping protect coastal communities and economies from increased flooding, storm surges, and other climate disasters. It also eliminates funding for NOAA facilities and marine sanctuaries, threatening vital ocean science and climate research.
Undermines our clean energy future: At the very moment coastal communities are working to build clean energy economies, the bill repeals clean energy tax credits, slashes transmission funding, and hamstrings offshore wind development. These cuts will cost jobs and energy security while keeping coastal communities handcuffed to volatile fossil fuel energy markets.
Crude oil spill on the beach.
The ongoing dismantling of NOAA under the Trump administration has already hollowed out expertise—thousands of skilled scientists and staff have left, taking with them decades of experience in oil spill response, marine conservation, and coastal protection. This bill would accelerate that loss, putting our oceans, coasts, and communities at unprecedented risk.
We urge Congress to reject this reckless, pro-polluter legislation and stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who demand clean water, safe coasts, and thriving marine ecosystems for future generations.