The Gulf of Mexico -- the world's largest gulf and the ninth largest water body -- has the most extensive coastal wetlands and coral reefs in the continental U.S.  It is home to five species of sea turtles that are threatened or endangered, including the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle which often becomes enmeshed in shrimp nets and drowns.  The Gulf supports more than 30 varieties of dolphins and whales, and thousands of species of fish and birds also. 

Tragically, the Gulf has been devastated by the gusher of oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon accident.  We have watched pelicans covered in oil, dead or gasping for life.  We have heard the stories of marina, restaurant and hotel owners in the Gulf, at risk of losing their business.  We have seen the fishermen and shrimpers who have seen their way of life destroyed, perhaps never to be restored.  And throughout it all, the endless geyser of oil, sending millions of gallons of pollution into the sea daily, pushing the devastation onto the beaches of the Gulf states and threatening to expand to the beaches of Texas.

These horrors reflect the present, and they may also be a glimpse of our future, if we do not act decisively to reduce our dependence on oil.  Without a new direction in energy policy, the scenes playing out right now in the Gulf - ecological disaster, destruction of wildlife and disruption of lives and economies - will be the dominant stories of the 21^st century. 

The reason we are drilling for oil a mile beneath the surface of the ocean is because we are running out of safe places to drill on land.  With our domestic sources exhausted and consumption on the rise, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel, forced to seek oil in ways that pose grave risks to our environment.  The horror we now know about offshore drilling is, once a leak begins, it is incredibly difficult to stop.  Drilling in remote locations in Alaska would create similar clean up challenges should oil leak into that extremely fragile ecosystem.  We should not go any further down this dangerous path. 

Moving forward, Congress must answer the President’s call for a comprehensive bill that moves us away from fossil fuels.  Environment Texas urges the President and Congress to work together to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill this year that ensures four main things:  

• The Gulf communities and ecosystems must be made whole, and BP—not American taxpayers —need to pay for the clean-up;
• We need to adopt a robust set of oil savings policies—especially within the transportation sector—to drastically decrease the nation’s demand for oil; 
• We need to set strong limits on global warming pollution that are critical to driving the shift to cleaner energy sources; 
• We need unprecedented support for energy efficiency and clean energy sources like wind and solar power to make this clean energy future a reality.