State legislators from 17 coastal states—including State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.—have recently signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke expressing opposition to proposed offshore oil drilling off the continental shelf of the United States.
The letter comes in response to a proposal by the Trump administration to increase offshore oil and gas drilling across the continental shelf of both the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. Mr. Thiele and 226 fellow state legislators maintain that such development, the largest proposal in decades, would be detrimental to coastal economies.
In a prepared statement, Mr. Thiele cites a study by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration concluding that coastal states provide 45 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States.
“I signed this letter because this leasing program threatens New York’s environment and economy, which depend on clean oceans, bays, wetlands and beaches,” said Mr. Thiele. “ An oil spill off the coast of Long Island would destroy our economy and our quality of life.”
Staff Writer on Mar 6, 2018