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Efficiency and Renewables Trump Offshore Drilling Fastest, Cheapest, Cleanest Way to Lower Natural Gas Prices America’s coasts are part of our "sea to shining sea" natural heritage and the economic engines of many coastal communities with billions of dollars of economic activity and millions of jobs from commercial and sport fishing, tourism, and real estate. Now, after 25 years of protection, our coastal heritage and the economic activity they foster are at risk from dramatic expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling. Despite industry rhetoric, a close look at the numbers shows that energy solutions like efficiency and renewables will save far more energy and money in much less time than would offshore drilling. For more on offshore drilling numbers, please visit http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/teleconference/ For example, the Domenici-Bingaman proposal to open up a chunk of Lease Sale 181 in the Gulf of Mexico would yield just 47 days of oil and 4 months worth of natural gas -- just 6 trillion cubic feet according to the Minerals Management Service. For a country that currently consumes about 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year, drilling offshore is not the answer. A combination of energy efficiency and renewables would lead to a 1% decrease in natural gas consumption in the first year and a 6.9% decrease by 2013. EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLES: Fastest, Cheapest, Cleanest Way to Lower Natural Gas Prices CHEAPER Adopting both energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would lead to "decreasing prices by $2.05 per Mcf, or 37%, in the first year." (Impact of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy On Natural Gas Markets: Updated and Expanded Analysis , American Council for Energy Efficient Economy, p. 9, April 2005) FASTER While it would take up to seven years to bring only a few months worth of oil and gas to market, we could start saving energy and money in about a year with efficiency and renewables. (New York Times, March 27, 2006) If we open the Florida coast to drilling, there would be NO reduction of natural gas consumption in first year. But through energy efficiency and renewable policies we could save .21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2006 and 6.9 trillion cubic feet by 2013. CLEANER Offshore drilling is a dirty business. From 1980 to 1999, 3 million gallons of oil spilled from offshore oil and gas operations in 73 incidents in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s an average of 150,000 gallons a year and 400 gallons a day. (U.S. Mineral Management Service, 2000. Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sale 181, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, pp. IV-50). Tens of thousands pounds of mercury have also been dumped around oil rigs in the Gulf. (Mobile (AL) Register, May 5, 2002) STATEMENTS: "It stands to reason that a state like Florida with such a strong tourism economy would be opposed to drilling off the coast. People come here for our clean beaches. We don’t have tar balls on our beaches and we don’t want them." -- Sandy Johnston, Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce "The oil and gas industries want to open up our fragile coasts to destructive drilling for very little energy savings. We could be making great strides in clean energy while keeping our tourism and fishing economies strong." -- Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club "Drilling for oil and natural gas off our beaches will mean daily air and water pollution problems, and a constant risk of oil spills.There are many cleaner, faster and cheaper ways to help America break its oil addiction. Reducing the energy we use in our homes, offices and cars using technologies that are already available will move us closer to energy independence than destroying our fragile coasts with offshore drilling." -- Jim Presswood, Natural Resources Defense Council "From whales to sea turtles to fish and birds, oil and gas drilling off our nation's coasts would damage the waters and habitats of these treasured species." --Lydia, Weiss, Defenders of Wildlife For More Information, Contact: Annie Strickler, Sierra Club: (202) 675-2384 Andi Murray, NRDC: (202) 289-2420 Liz Hitchcock, U.S. PIRG: (202) 546-9707 Deb Bagocius, Defenders of Wildlife: (202)772-0239 Mark Sokolove, League of Conservation Voters: (202) 785-8683 |
