TAKE ACTION: House bill will give Big Oil free rein

Take action to stop the SECURE Act!

Dear folks, As I am sitting down to write this email, I’m at a loss. The SECURE Act, introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representatives, contains such a wide range of outrageous – even horrifying – provisions that I hardly know where to start. Stop this extreme bill that threatens whales, dolphins and public health! The SECURE Act is a brazen attack on America’s public lands, coastal waters, and the wildlife and human communities that depend on them. It reads like a laundry list of giveaways for the oil and gas industry. The bill would: Reverse drilling safety regulations that were adopted after the devastating BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster that left the Gulf of Mexico covered in a thick sheen of oil; Fast-track dangerous offshore seismic testing that could injure or kill whales, dolphins, sea turtles and potentially wipe out up to 75 percent of nearby reef fish; Weaken bedrock environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; Give "exclusive authority" for oil and gas permitting and enforcement on America’s public lands to states that have neither the resources nor the laws to provide adequate management and oversight; Encourage the relaxation of regulations and removal of environmental safeguards by pitting states against each other as they try to secure industry development in sensitive areas; Terminate the president’s power to create marine national monuments under the Antiquities Act; and Prevent the federal government from regulating hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking' in public lands and waters. But the SECURE Act doesn’t stop there. It also proposes to block citizens from demanding transparency and from accessing the courts to hold the government accountable when it violates the law. Speak out now: The SECURE Act cannot be allowed to pass. This legislation is full of short-sighted concessions to the oil and gas industry that would decimate wildlife and their habitats and endanger public health. It recklessly puts profits above all else. Speak out now to protect America’s wildlife and the public lands and waters they depend on. Thank you for all you do, Robert Dewey Vice President, Government Relations & External Affairs Defenders of Wildlife

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