David Michel

Climate change is wreaking havoc off our coast. Rising sea levels and coastal erosion threaten the environment, the critical diversity of marine life off our shores as well as our most vulnerable communities.

We need strong federal leadership from Washington, unfortunately, President Joe Biden’s newly released proposal for offshore drilling could accelerate the demise of our climate by continuing more dirty and dangerous offshore oil drilling. The ocean is protecting us from climate change and needs broad and adequate protection against harm.

Climate change is the challenge of our time, and we must mobilize like never before to ensure a livable future. Of Connecticut’s 3.6 million residents, 61 percent live in coastal communities such as Stamford, where I represent the people of Connecticut’s 146th district. Projections show by 2080, Connecticut could lose up to 24,000 acres of land due to sea level rise. In Hartford, I am one of those leading the fight to transition Connecticut to “proper” renewable energy, but we need President Biden to act, too.

When Biden was campaigning in 2020, he promised to end the expansion of oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters, and committed to mobilizing record levels of federal resources to address the climate crisis. He called it the “existential challenge that will define our future as a country.” We’re already seeing the impacts of climate change here in Connecticut and expect the president to keep his promises.

Earlier this year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a humanitarian crisis and sent global oil and gas prices through the roof, as well as utter destruction of the environment and many species, including marine mammals. But let’s be clear: More offshore drilling won’t help gas prices because it takes nearly 10 years for new leases to begin producing.

Big Oil is profiteering from the war, driving up gas prices, and raking in record profits while we pay the price. We need our leaders in Washington to ensure we don’t lose focus on the task at hand: reducing emissions, ending new fossil fuel development, and expanding clean energy in a careful and effective manner. We can’t afford more offshore drilling.

Here are the facts: Oil companies already stockpiled millions of acres of our ocean for future offshore drilling. They are sitting on more than 8 million acres of unused leases, or about 75 percent of the total leased acreage of public waters. They do not need more leases. The pinch we feel at the pump is leading to record profits for them, so they are in no hurry to help. President Biden must protect our climate, not the profit margins of Big Oil CEOs.

The responsibly sited and environmentally friendly development of offshore wind could bring thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to Connecticut, but only if we choose to adequately protect the marine environment. We must prioritize safeguarding all marine life with strong protections to ensure a thriving ocean ecosystem. With offshore wind, the use of specific techniques for the footing of wind turbines, such as Concrete Gravity Base, huge ballasts, floated to the locations and silently lowered to the sea floor, could guarantee many careers compared to few jobs with the technique of destructive pile-driving with automated ships and European steel pipes, into the seafloor. The CGB careers will be to the benefit of our local communities’ carpenters, electricians, iron workers, low-emissions concrete manufacturers (which use recycled glass in their mix), and more labor, to the benefit of Connecticut and New England’s economy. The same technique is clearly the least damaging to the marine environment and our precious marine wildlife (North Atlantic right whales, lobster, keystone fish species etc) that also act as operators of a major part of our life support system, the climate regulator, the ocean.

Rather than focusing on offshore wind, President Biden recently released his proposal for the future of offshore drilling. We must fight to ensure the final program ends new leasing for offshore drilling. Together, we can ensure a future that ends new dirty and dangerous offshore activities, in this case, drilling, and creates a robust clean energy industry that benefits our environment, climate, and economy.

Join me in asking President Biden to end new leasing for offshore drilling. Click here to submit public comment supporting an end to new leasing.

This op-ed was published by the Stamford Advocate. Read it on the SA website here.