Our Goals
In response to the environmental calamity in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pew Environment Group is pushing for offshore energy reform in both the U.S. Congress and from the Obama administration. Some specific reforms are to:
- Improve agency oversight of environmental protection, safety and management of oil development of our outer continental shelf.
- Amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which governs offshore mineral leasing and development, and/or its implementing regulations to ensure the cumulative environmental effects of oil and gas development are thoroughly reviewed and appropriately addressed.
- Eliminate the statutory limits on liability for damages resulting from oil spills to ensure that the full cost of economic and environmental damages is recovered.
- Amend the Oil Pollution Act, which governs oil spill contingency planning and response, to increase the timeliness and effectiveness of oil spill response and recovery.
- Suspend new oil leasing, exploration or production in the U.S. Arctic Ocean until new safety, spill response, science and environmental standards are adopted through legislation or regulation.
