On October 1st, the moratorium on offshore drilling that has protected our coasts since 1981 expired when Congress failed to include it as a part of the continuing budget resolution adopted last month. In essence, Congress wasn’t able to come to an agreement on the scope of a plan to open additional offshore acreage to drilling, so they punted the issue to the next Congress and administration.

We do not expect this to be the end of the debate. The moratorium could very well be restored by a new Congress and a new president – who understand that more offshore drilling will do nothing to lower gas prices or solve our energy and climate crisis.

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