Maine House passes resolution requesting that President Trump exclude Maine from new offshore drilling
AUGUSTA – The Maine House unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, asking President Trump to exclude Maine from any future offshore oil and gas drilling and exploration.
Devin submitted the resolution after President Trump announced he was lifting a moratorium on such activities earlier this year.
“Offshore drilling could be an economic disaster for Maine,” said Devin, a three-term member of the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee, in a news release from the House Democratic Office. “Over 45,000 jobs are associated with our coastal economy, which includes over 5,000 commercial fishermen. The risks are too high to place that many jobs in jeopardy. Maine must protect one of the world’s premier natural resources – the Gulf of Maine. Nobody comes to our coast to eat a chicken sandwich. We need to close the door on offshore drilling immediately, and I hope the president will agree.”
In April 2017 President Trump signed an executive order reversing a ruling by former President Obama that banned drilling and leasing in the Atlantic and Arctic Outer Continental Shelf regions. President Trump's order further directed the U.S. Department of the Interior to open the Atlantic and Pacific OCS regions to new offshore drilling and exploration.
At the federal level, all four members of the state’s Congressional delegation have expressed opposition to drilling off Maine’s coast.
The resolution’s next and final stop will be the Maine Senate, where it is also expected to pass.
Devin, a marine biologist and a member of the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee, is serving his third term in the Maine House and represents Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Newcastle, part of Nobleboro, part of South Bristol, Monhegan Plantation and the unorganized territory of Louds Island.
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