Oil Drilling is Dirty.
- There’s no such thing as safe oil drilling. Both the exploration and extraction of oil releases toxic pollutants into the air and water, which contribute to smog formation, acid rain, and respiratory problems. Wastewater from drilling contains contaminants like heavy metals and hydrocarbons, and preparatory drilling actions cause severe noise pollution through seismic surveys that harm marine species.
- Preserving Marine Ecosystems: Oil drilling poses a severe threat to The Bahamas’ marine biodiversity, including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds. These ecosystems are critical for the environment’s health, sustaining local fisheries, and protecting shorelines from erosion and storm surges.
- Risks of Oil Spills: And oil spill is all but guaranteed. Over the span of nine years, the United States averaged nearly two spills a day. The catastrophic consequences of oil spills, such as those witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico, could devastate The Bahamas’ fragile marine environments. Even a minor spill would cause irreversible damage to fish populations, marine mammals, and nesting sea turtles. Studies have determined that oil is particularly toxic for many larval fish species, causing deformation and death. For example, a US government study estimated that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico directly killed between two and five million larval fish.