Oil is Not Sustainable.
- Climate Vulnerabilities: The Bahamas is highly vulnerable to hurricanes and rising sea levels, which will be exacerbated by climate change. Offshore drilling operations would increase the country’s exposure to environmental disasters, particularly during hurricanes, where oil rigs and pipelines are at risk of severe damage, amplifying the likelihood of spills. And of course, fossil fuel extraction only worsens the climate crisis, contributing to a risky cycle of destruction for the most vulnerable.
- Storms Spill: The dangers of drilling in hurricane-prone regions have always been unacceptably high. For example, the Taylor Energy spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which has been ongoing for more than two decades and thus far incapable of being stopped, resulted from Hurricane Ivan’s destruction of an offshore oil platform in 2004. It is the longest-running oil spill in US history, with an estimated 140,000,000 US gallons of oil spilled so far, affecting an area as large as 8 square miles of ocean. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005) and Hurricane Ida (2021) are recent storms that have caused major spills at offshore drill sites. Hurricane Katrina alone spilled 8 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. With the increasing threat of stronger hurricanes that form and intensify more quickly, along with the many other urgent stresses on our marine environment due to climate change, offshore drilling in The Bahamas would pose a greater risk of catastrophic impact due to a major spill.
- A Changing Wind: As countries race to seek profits from offshore drilling, The Bahamas has a chance to break from the pack and establish itself as a leader in sustainability by passing a ban on oil drilling. The public has already spoken: drilling has no place in Bahamian waters. Now, our leaders have a chance to act, and help build a Bahamas powered by the sun, protecting our islands for generations to come.