On March 24th and 25th the Coast Guard will be staging an oil spill drill to practice its response to a Spill of National Significance off the Coast of Maine. The drill will practice responding to a spill as large as the Exxon Valdez spill, between a car carrier and an oil tanker in a strong winter storm somewhere 16 miles out from the Gulf of Maine. These drills occur every three years around the country to prepare emergency workers and develop plans to prevent and control oil and chemical spills. People from the Coast Guard, the state and commercial sectors operating boats, barges and other vessels will anchor a network of oil containment booms, test equipment, train and determine whether or not plans for spill emergencies will be successful.

Sierra Club and Repower America see this mock disaster as a great opportunity to stress the importance of reducing our dependence on oil and encourage our Senators to support clean energy legislation. They will be joining forces on March 24th at 11:30 AM for a press conference in Rye Harbor, where one of the response teams will be staged. The idea of this press conference is to highlight the effects an oil spill would have on the Seacoast’s fishing industry, tourism industry, and small businesses. They will also call on our representatives in Washington to work hard to pass strong clean energy legislation that will reduce our dependence on oil and help protect our coasts from the danger of a spill.

For more information, please contact Marie Bergen at Sierra Club, marie.bergen@sierraclub.org