Sign the petition: Don

It's Big Oil vs. whales and sea otters. Submit your comment today: Don't let Exxon expand its offshore drilling by killing more marine mammals!

Dear Friends,

Beautiful -- but threatened.

I never get tired of watching humpback whales breach the ocean and leap through the air. I'm a lucky man -- the Santa Barbara Channel, near my home in California, is one of the best places in the world to see whales in their natural habitat.

But this could change if Exxon gets its way -- they're asking for permission from the government to harass and even kill an unlimited number of whales, seals, and sea otters!

Exxon wants to "take" (i.e. harass) as many marine mammals as necessary to expand an offshore drilling platform -- already one of the world's deepest -- with hydraulic hammers. ^[1] We're working hard at the Sierra Club's Los Padres Chapter to stop them, but we can't do it alone. I know how strong the SierraRise community has become, so I'm asking for your help.

It's Big Oil vs. whales and sea otters -- and together, we need to submit 50,000 comments by the July 30 deadline.Please raise your voice and tell the National Marine Fisheries Service to reject Exxon's request to kill marine mammals!

Earlier this year, over 115,000 SierraRise supporters wrote the EPA and demanded protection for Florida panthers from another Big Oil project -- and just last week, you won! The oil company has given up its leases and gone home, a huge victory for Sierra Club Florida and SierraRise. ^[2] I'm so excited by this show of strength -- and I just know that together, we can do the same thing for marine mammals here in California!

The Channel Islands are home to one-third of the world's whale, dolphin, and porpoise species, ^[3] and sea otters and elephant seals were reintroduced after disappearing from the area. ^[4] Combined with the natural scenery, that makes this region a spectacular wild place to visit -- one worth protecting from the corporate polluters.

And yet, many of these animals are already threatened by climate change and the dumping of toxic fracking fluids into their waters. Some of the species are even listed as endangered or threatened. Now Exxon wants to make their situation even worse?! We can't let the fossil fuel industry kill our ocean's wildlife -- Please stand with these beautiful creatures today.

Will you raise your voice to protect marine mammals from Exxon? If you speak out now, the SierraRise community can give this campaign the boost it needs to save the whales and otters!

In it together,

Jim Hines
Conservation Chair
Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter

P.S. Five signatures are even more powerful than one -- after you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends, family, and colleagues!

 

References:

1. Rivers, Kimberly (2014 July 07). "Exxon Asks Feds to Allow "Taking" of Marine Mammals Off Central CA Coast." VCInFocus.

2. Meyer, Alexis (2014 July 15). "Victory for Panther Habitat as Oil Driller Leaves Florida." Sierra Club Florida News.

3. NPS staff. "Whale Watching." National Park Service - Channel Islands.

4. NPS staff. "Channel Islands National Park Timeline." National Park Service - Channel Islands.

Photo credit: Flickr user Chuck Abbe, CC BY-2.0