skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

This Earth Day, Conservation Groups Decry Offshore-Drilling Expansion

play audio
Play

Monday, April 22, 2019   

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Just in time for Earth Day today, the environmental group Oceana is calling for a halt to the Trump administration's moves to radically expand offshore oil and gas drilling and roll back safety measures.

Their new report, "Dirty Drilling," found the risk of another catastrophic oil spill is growing because any day now, the administration is expected to finalize its proposal to open up 98 percent of federal waters to oil leases. Oceana campaign director Diane Hoskins noted the feds have proposed four lease sales in California, starting next year.

"We shouldn't be expanding dirty and dangerous drilling when there is overwhelming bipartisan opposition from those that have the most to lose,” Hoskins said. “Instead, we should be implementing safety reforms, not rolling back the too-few safety measures that are already in place."

A 90-day public comment period will commence once the final offshore drilling proposal is released. Hoskins said the administration already has finalized plans to weaken the production-systems safety rule but still is considering changes to the well-control rule.

President Donald Trump has defended his policy, saying the U.S. should make use of its natural resources to ensure energy independence in the future.

The report also claims the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is too friendly to oil and gas companies. Hoskins said, in addition, the feds are relying on safety standards written by the industry itself.

"The agency is regularly granting exemptions from offshore-drilling safety requirements,” she said. “Essentially, BSEE is relinquishing its independence, blurring the lines between regulator and the regulated."

Sunday was the nine-year anniversary of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There hasn't been an offshore lease sale in federal waters off of California since 1984, or in state waters since the sixties. Santa Barbara suffered a major oil spill in 1969, and a smaller one in 2015.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021