Dear Audubon Advocate,

The administration has proposed an offshore drilling plan that would mean an unprecedented expansion of oil and gas drilling off of America’s coasts, putting hundreds of species of birds and numerous coastal communities in jeopardy.

The plan would open practically all of the nation’s offshore waters to new drilling, including millions of acres of previously protected areas. Opening these new places to drilling would put countless birds at risk, along with sensitive ecosystems that birds and other wildlife need to survive, while threatening communities up and down the coasts that depend on a healthy marine environment.

Write to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and ask them to reject this dangerous plan to vastly expand offshore drilling.

This proposed five-year plan rejects a plan completed just over a year ago after a lengthy review process, which sensibly kept fragile waters off the table in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. The new plan disregards the significant local opposition from cities and states that have spoken up forcefully to protect their way of life. And it ignores the serious risks that birds would face by expanding drilling, such as Red Knots in the Atlantic, Western Snowy Plovers in the Pacific, and Spectacled Eiders in the Arctic.

The risks are far too high to move forward with this current plan. In the Arctic, for example, there is simply no proven method to clean up an oil spill, which would threaten key wildlife hotspots proposed for drilling. And across the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, a spill would devastate birds and vital habitat while threatening the economic viability of hundreds of coastal communities that rely on tourism and other ocean and coastal activities.

Make your voice heard, and send an official public comment to BOEM to oppose this unnecessary and dangerous expansion of offshore drilling. The deadline to comment is March 9.