Media Contact:
Rebekah Staub, rstaub@earthworks.org
WASHINGTON — Today Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) led a letter with twenty other colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives to Rear Admiral (Ret.) Ann C. Phillips, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD), encouraging MARAD to update its approval criteria for deepwater oil export ports.
Under the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, MARAD is required to evaluate whether proposed deepwater oil export projects are in the “national interest” and are consistent with national policy goals and objectives, including for environmental quality and energy efficiency. Offshore oil export facilities – capable of moving 2 billion barrels of oil per day – are dangerous to the global and local environment, but despite this clear directive to consider the national interest, MARAD has never denied an oil export license. There is currently one operating oil import and export facility, one recently approved facility, and three more awaiting licensing decisions from MARAD. If MARAD allows the recently approved and pending offshore oil export facilities to come online, the crude oil from these facilities would generate 24 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas over 30 years, in addition to creating local air pollution and oil spill risks.
The lawmakers’ letter calls on MARAD to fully and accurately consider public health, environmental justice, and climate change impacts as part of the determination process. In the interim, the lawmakers urge MARAD to pause licensing decisions for new and pending deepwater oil export projects – including Blue Marlin, Bluewater, and Texas GulfLink – and reopen the record of decision for the recently approved Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT).
“I am grateful to lawmakers for listening to communities living on the frontlines of the largest buildout of oil and gas infrastructure in the world,” said Melanie Oldham, resident of Freeport, Texas and founder and director of Better Brazoria. “New oil and gas export projects increase the possibility of oil leaks and spills in the Gulf of Mexico. These proposed projects are not in the national interest and do not provide any benefits for our local communities. All they cause is more climate pollution, more health problems, more oil spills, and more explosions. I urge the Maritime Administration to heed this call and stop approving new fossil fuel export projects. People’s lives are at stake.”
