Washington (April 21, 2017) – Seven years after the BP Deepwater Horizon rig sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and nearly five million barrels of oil began spilling into the Gulf of Mexico on April 22, 2010, Senator Edward J. Markey, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement:

“The BP Spill was the worst environmental disaster in American history. Yet, seven years later, the Congress has not put a single new law on the books to improve the safety of offshore drilling and now the Trump Administration is readying a push to open even more of our coastlines to drilling and the threat of a spill. If President Trump had his way, Earth Day would be Drill the Earth Day.

“In New England, we know that oil and water don’t mix. We never want Georges Bank to become Big Oil’s Bank. That is why I will continue to fight any attempt by President Trump to allow drilling off of Massachusetts or the East Coast. Rather than learn the lessons of the BP Spill, the Trump Administration is poised to double down on the same industry boosterism that led to complacency and ultimately to disaster. We must never again allow such disaster to be replicated off our beaches and fishing grounds in New England.”  

###