Administration Advances Offshore Drilling Expansion Plan

When the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management took public comments last summer to inform its forthcoming offshore oil and gas leasing plan, AWI submitted comments on behalf of dozens of wildlife protection groups opposing the agency’s intent to drastically expand offshore oil and gas development to all US coasts. The draft plan published in late 2025 unfortunately made clear that vast areas remain under threat, including waters along the coasts of Alaska and California and in the Eastern Gulf. The proposal even includes areas overlapping with national marine sanctuaries—places long protected from human impacts.

In response, AWI partnered with Defenders of Wildlife to once again submit detailed comments opposing this unprecedented expansion. Drawing on extensive research, including lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we laid out the devastating and long-lasting impacts oil spills have on marine ecosystems, coastal economies, and sensitive wildlife. We urged consideration of Rice’s whales, gray whales, sea turtles, polar bears, sea otters, and other vulnerable species already struggling against climate change and industrial pressures.

We were in good company: Public opposition to the plan was strong among the roughly 270,000 people who submitted comments, including nearly 5,000 who responded to AWI’s action alert. We will continue to press the administration to abandon this reckless expansion plan that poses such a grave risk to fragile marine ecosystems and imperiled wildlife. 

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