Submitted via email and regulations.

gov on June 16, 2016 to:

President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Kelly Hammerle
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
45600 Woodland Road, VAM-LD
Sterling, VA 20166
Email: Kelly.Hammerle@boem.gov
Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Email: Secretary_Jewell@ios.doi.gov
Abigail Ross Hopper, Director
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
1849 C Street, NW, Room 5209
Washington, DC 20240
Email: Abigail.Hopper@boem.gov
Re: Request to remove all proposed lease sales -- Alaska and Gulf of Mexico -from the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program [BOEM2016-0003]
On behalf of the 117 organizations and citizens and the thousands of people
that we represent across the five Gulf South States, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Florida, we call on you to remove all offshore oil and gas lease
sales from the final leasing program.
We submit this joint letter as the people living on the Gulf Coast who are
concerned about the preservation of our home and culture, the health of our
families and the future of our planet. We are mothers, fathers, grandparents,
family, and friends of those that have lost their lives and livelihoods as a result of
the dangerous and unaccountable oil and gas industry. We are people living in
communities with refineries, storage facilities, toxic waste sites, pipelines, and oil
trains in our backyards being poisoned daily by toxic releases. We are people
living in coastal communities that continue to be hit by climate disasters- super
storms like Katrina and severe flooding. We are people living in areas where our
land is sinking, our coastlines are eroding, and our seas are rising because of

extreme energy extraction. We are people living in our nations sacrifice zones
where communities continue to fight oppressive government policies that have
built the worlds most powerful companies while living in the nations poorest
socioeconomic conditions.
We, the people of the Gulf, urge BOEM to think more critically about your
decision to put our health and livelihoods, the preservation of our local cultures,
and the future of our planet at risk for the sake of future jobs that could be
replaced with supply side policies that expand investment in renewable energy
technology.
Economic Impact
The Bureaus assessment of the costs and benefits of the next 5 year leasing plan
overestimates the benefits of offshore drilling and fails to take into account all of
the costs. The proposed plan does not take into account the $37 billion in
federal subsidies given to the oil and gas industry annually and other hidden
costs, including infrastructure spending, military expenditures, and costs from
climate change. According to Oil Change International, the overall hidden
costs are estimated to be between $360 billion and $1 trillion, at least rivaling or
far exceeding the hundreds of billions of dollars the fossil fuel industry is reported
to contribute to our economy.
Environmental Justice Impact
The proposal also does not account for cumulative impacts of multiple
environmental and public health risks and exposures caused by offshore drilling
and the supporting industries. The Gulf produces and refines nearly two times as
much as we consume, more than any other part of our country. We have over
40 environmental justice communities defined by the Environmental Protection
Agency living near offshore drilling and other related industrial activities. Many of
these communities are exposed to toxic pollutants and carcinogens on a daily
basis, and as a result have disproportionately higher rates of asthma and other
respiratory illnesses and cancer.
Climate Change
It is irresponsible to auction over 70 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico so that oil
and gas companies can drill up to 9.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent over the
next 70 years knowing that it will only deepen the climate crisis and reverse
course on President Obamas commitment to combat climate change. By
BOEMs own accounts, the expansion will lead to 445 percent more greenhouse
gas emissions than the level the US committed to in order to prevent runaway
climate change. We are particularly concerned given that coastal
communities living in the Gulf of Mexico will be among the most heavily
impacted by climate change globally.

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Additional risks associated with current and imminent climate disruption are also
not part of BOEMs cost benefit analysis. For example, the Biloxi-ChitimachaChoctaw tribe of Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana are the first climate refugees
in the Gulf and cost the federal government $48 million. The families living there
have been there for more than a century. Chief Albert Naquin of the BiloxiChitimacha-Choctaw tribe, shared with New York Times reporter, Were going
to lose all our heritage, all our culture. Its all going to be history.
Corporate Accountability
It is insulting to those who have lost their lives and to communities that continue
to suffer as result of the grossly negligent actions of BP that BOEM does not
factor in the risks of catastrophic offshore drilling disasters and assumes the oil
and gas industry is an accountable and responsible party despite the history of
underreporting oil spills (Samira Daneshgar Asl of Florida State University), the
significant infrastructure damage the industry has failed to repair, and past
negligent and immoral behavior. The Bureau further asserts that the impact is
equitable because the industry pays fair restitution for damages. We know this
to be untrue. Many local fishing communities and the cleanup workers of the BP
drilling disaster have not been paid fair restitution for their losses and have been
denied any medical claims for oil and chemical exposure.
Renewable Energy Generation
Finally, the five-year proposed plan does not include in its assessment the
potential for renewable offshore energy and assumes the inevitability of the
expansion of offshore drilling in the Gulf. The no leasing option would send
market signals that accelerate the transition to clean energy, a point supported
by the Stockholm Environmental Institute, and not considered by the Bureau.
Leaving the Gulf in the 5-year plan strengthens the foothold the oil and gas
industry has in our region and consequently denies the people living in the Gulf
the opportunity to benefit from the growing renewable energy economy.
The environmental injustices our communities have endured for generations as a
result of the narrow pursuit of dirty energy warrants putting an end to the
expansion of offshore drilling. We no longer have to choose between jobs and
healthy, just, and sustainable communities. We demand that BOEM, the
Department of Interior, and the Administration put an end to new offshore
drilling and provide a path for the Gulf to benefit from the growth of the
renewable energy economy - because by our accounts, the costs of continuing
to lease to the oil and gas industry far exceeds the benefits.
Sincerely,
Emerald Coast Keepers
League of Women Voters of Okaloosa County
Friends of the Earth
Atchafalaya Basinkeeper
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Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition

Radical Arts and Healing Collective
Earth Ethics, Inc.
Home Owner on Okaloosa Island
Island Garden Club
Environmental Action
12 Mile South Coalition
CJ'S STREET REPORT
RESTORE MISSISSIPPI SOUND
Environmental Caucus of Florida
DWCE
Democratic Women's Clubs of Florida
Sierra Club; New Orleans Office
WildEarth Guardians
Vanishing Earth
VAYLA New Orleans
SeaVibe Foundation
Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper
Louisiana Environmental Action Network
Center for Biological Diversity
UU Young Adults for Climate Justice Network
Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy
Brighter Future Foundation
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Moore Community House
South Florida Wildlands Association
Cherokee Concerned Citizens
The Life Support Project
Mobile Bay Sierra Club
Earth Action, Inc.
Don't Frack Florida
350 Louisiana - New Orleans
Apalachicola Riverkeeper
South Bay Communities Alliance
Oasis Earth
Environeers
CIRF, Center for Individual Responsibility and Freedom
Harnessing Opportunity & Power of Education, Inc.
Emerald Ocean Engineering
Greenpeace
League of Women Voters of the Pensacola Bay Area
Calhoun County Resource Watch
San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper
Bold Louisiana
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Community Science Institute

Public Lab New Orleans
Biloxi Chapter of NAACP
MS Gulf Coast Chapter of Sierra Club
Rainforest Action Network
Louisiana Progress Action
Mobile Baykeeper
Panhandle Watershed Alliance
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Alabama Sierra Club
ReThink Energy Florida
Lone Star Chapter, Sierra Club
Gulf Restoration Network
350.org
Dallas Sierra Club
Hands Across the Sand / Land
350 Pensacola
Galveston Baykeeper
EEECHO
On Wings Of Care, Inc.
SouthWings
Boat People SOS
Facilitative Leadership Institute
Faith and Energy Action Team
Sierra Club Delta Chapter
Mississippi Coalition for Vietnamese-American Fisher Folks & Families
Bold Alliance
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
The Whaleman Foundation
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Southwest Workers' Union
Black Mesa Water Coalition
First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans
Rachel Carson Council
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland
Biofuelwatch
Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
North Gulfport Landtrust
OneStop Business Institute
Florida Clean Water Network
Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc
Louisana Bucket Brigade
Turkey Creek Community Initiative
Gulf Islands Conversancy, Inc
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Hijra House
Elders Climate Action
Tzu Chi
Peoples Action
Leave it in the Ground Initiative ( LINGO )
GAIA: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Grassroots International
Steps Coalition
Allie Dunlap, MPH Candidate George Washington University
Dr. Suzette Doyon, University of West Florida
Monique Verdin, Citizen of United Houma Nation
April Leake, Citizen of Crestview, FL
Marsha King, Citizen of Pace, FL
Dr. Gwen de Mauriac, Citizen of Gulfport, MS
Linda Justice, Citizen of Gulfport, MS
Mike Stagg, Citizen of Lafayette, LA
Margaret Breaud, Citizen of Covington, LA
Dr. Paula Montgomery, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Frances Dunham, Citizen of Gulf Breeze, FL
Beverly Davis, Citizen of Long Beach, MS
John Nixon, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Cynthia Jurkovic, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Millie McHugh, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Ona Mitkevicius, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Diane Smith, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Eugenia Buchanan, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Chris Medwell, Citizen of Gulf Breeze, FL
Joan Escuriex, Citizen of Gulf Breeze, FL
Renee Borden, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Kathy Barber, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Jeannette Ogden, Citizen of Milton, FL
Bette Billiot, Citizen of United Houma Nation
Dr. Jean Lebow, Citizen of Gautier, MS
Jack Bonney, Citizen of Pensacola, FL
Susan Creel, Citizen of Bagdad, FL
Charles Creel, Citizen of Bagdad, FL

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