In California, dead fish and birds coated with black oil are now washing up on the shore. Why? Because more than 144,000 gallons of crude oil gushed into the ocean when an oil pipeline failed off the coast of Orange County in early October. The spill produced an oil slick in the Pacific the size of Santa Monica. The oil washed up on Huntington Beach and reached the Talbert Marsh wetlands, an ecological reserve for endangered wildlife. All of this devastation is preventable.

Offshore drilling uses gigantic fixed or floating platforms to extract oil and natural gas beneath the ocean floor. The environmental impact is catastrophic. About 1.3 million gallons of oil spills into the ocean from vessels and pipelines per year in the United States alone. Drilling operations release toxic pollution into the air and water. Spills are an enormous risk to animals and to nature. In spite of this risk, the Administration is opening up nearly 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore drilling next month.

The oil industry has been gaslighting us for years. They’ve spent billions on deceptive propaganda to discourage the public from taking action on climate change and to promote climate denial. Meanwhile, people around the country, particularly in low income and communities of color, suffer the economic consequences of crushing energy burdens and poor health outcomes from toxic fossil fuel pollution.

Our efforts to reign in this industry have failed miserably. Beta Offshore, the owner of the broken pipeline in California, has been cited over 100 times in 11 years. Ending offshore drilling is the only way to prevent the environmental damage it causes.

New renewable energy solutions are the future we should be reaching towards, instead of perpetuating our reliance on fossil fuels for the sake of Big Oil.