Put Our Coasts Permanently Off Limits to Offshore Drilling
Phone scripts and email tools to oppose another payoff to Trump's fossil fuel donors
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
The Trump Administration is serving as a bought-and-paid-for agent of Big Oil companies. We’ve seen it in Venezuela, we’ve seen it in his attacks on wind and solar power, and we’re seeing it in his effort to auction off more than a billion acres of our public waters previously untouched by heavy industry to oil and gas drilling. They’re netting billions of dollars on their $75 million investment in his campaign, but it’s coming at our expense. His plan would risk the health and well-being of millions of people who live along the Alaska, California and Gulf coasts, in addition to threatening economic disaster, devastating ocean ecosystems humans and wildlife rely on and worsening the climate crisis. It even might be a problem for military readiness. It’s a bad enough idea to have brought together everyone from Gavin Newsom to Ron DeSantis in opposition.
The Department of Interior is currently accepting public feedback on this proposal, many of the auctions would not take place until after Trump’s term, and there will be a major legal battle before any of this can move forward. But expanded offshore drilling has been a continued obsession of Trump going back to his first term, and we need to shut it down once and for all. A bipartisan group of lawmakers have proposed a package of bills that would permanently block new drilling off America’s shores.
Let’s reach out to our reps and ask them to push back against Trump’s drilling plan and support the legislative drive to protect our coasts once and for all. We can find call scripts and language to use here, or send them this email via Resistbot by texting SIGN PPMESD to 50409.
Last updated 1/22/26.
NOTES/ADDENDUM
We can supplement our calls and emails with details from state-level fact sheets on the coastal economy from Oceana here.
The bills we are advocating for include:
The COAST Anti-Drilling Act (H.R. 2881/S.1486), protecting the East Coast from Maine to Florida
The West Coast Ocean Protection Act (H.R. 2849/S.1432), protecting Oregon, Washington, and California’s coast
The Florida Coastal Protection Act (H.R. 2673), protecting the Florida coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico
The Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act (H.R. 2848/ S.1445), protecting the Arctic coast
The Defend Our Coast Act (H.R. 2886), protecting the mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf
PHONE SCRIPTS
You can find your rep’s contact info here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
Hi, my name is _________, and I’m a constituent from (city, zip). (If voicemail, leave street address).
Trump’s offshore drilling plan may be great for his corporate donors, but the people who live and work along our coasts are saying no. It’s bad for public health, bad for seaside economies, bad for our military, and bad for the climate crisis. I’m asking Rep/Sen _______ to join the coalition that’s pushing back and to cosponsor bipartisan bills to permanently put our oceans off limits to new drilling.
That includes the COAST Anti-Drilling Act (H.R. 2881/S.1486), the West Coast Ocean Protection Act (H.R. 2849/S.1432), the Florida Coastal Protection Act (H.R. 2673), the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act (H.R. 2848/ S.1445) and the Defend Our Coast Act (H.R. 2886)
(CAN ALSO ADD):
If we want to lower energy prices, we need to stop sabotaging wind and solar power instead of putting everyone on our coasts at risk.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
EMAIL LANGUAGE
We can send this message directly to our members of Congress by texting SIGN PPMESD to 50409, or use it as a starting point for the standard congressional email system.
Fossil fuel industry donors are getting their money’s worth out of their bet on this president. Trump’s proposal to auction off 1.27 billion acres of our public waters off California, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic Ocean for oil and gas drilling is just the latest return on their investment. The problem is regular Americans living on our coasts are going to be the ones who pay for it. We’re saying no, and Congress must too.
A recent analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity has suggested Trump’s plan could generate 4,000 additional oil spills, and it comes at a time when this administration has rolled back safety regulations to prevent them and cut the staff who enforce them. We’re also seeing more and worsening hurricanes as a result of climate change which further exacerbate the risk. And even during normal operations, drilling will produce a toxic sludge that will impact ecosystems humans and wildlife rely on.
We all vividly remember the costs of Deepwater Horizon. The tourism, recreation and fishing industries that employ so many of us and pour so much money into our economies will bear the brunt of expanded offshore drilling. Public health will suffer from increased pollution. (All this may explain why drilling will still be banned off Mar-a-Lago under Trump’s proposal). The Department of Defense has in the past suggested that it might even be a problem for military readiness, with part of the area opened crossing into the Gulf Test Range. Further, it will only serve to deepen the climate crisis.
That’s why two-thirds of American voters back protections against offshore drilling, and more than 400 municipalities, 59,000 businesses and elected officials ranging from Gavin Newsom to Ron DeSantis have spoken up against expanding it. Please make it clear to the White House that you will fight them tooth and nail to stop this plan from moving forward.
Beyond that, it’s time we bury this idea once and for all. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has proposed a package of legislation that would permanently protect our coasts from new offshore drilling, including the COAST Anti-Drilling Act (H.R. 2881/S.1486), the West Coast Ocean Protection Act (H.R. 2849/S.1432), the Florida Coastal Protection Act (H.R. 2673), the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act (H.R. 2848/ S.1445) and the Defend Our Coast Act (H.R. 2886). Please co-sponsor these bills and work to pass them into law as swiftly as possible.
Americans want cheaper energy. The way to get it is to stop deliberately sabotaging the wind and solar industries, not putting everyone on our coasts at risk for Big Oil profits.