Commissioner Franz Calls On Trump Administration To Withdraw Its Offshore Drilling Proposal

Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz has joined other Pacific Northwest officials voicing concern about a Trump administration proposal to sell oil leases off the Washington coast.

In a letter sent Thursday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Acting Director Walter Cruickshank, Franz said offshore drilling in Washington could negatively impact the coastal environment as well as local fishing and shellfish industries. She states in the letter that the people of Washington did not ask for offshore drilling and do not want offshore drilling, as well as “Our public lands and waters belong to all of us. They are not assets to be plundered, leaving Washingtonians with the mess.”

Her letter comes after Zinke said he wants to open nearly all U.S. coastlines to offshore oil and gas drilling. A draft proposal from the Department of the Interior came out in January.

KOHO’s Marcus Bellissimo talked with Commissioner Franz and filed this report.