Senator Anna M. Kaplan Takes Action to Protect Long Island from Offshore Drilling
February 3, 2019
(Long Beach, NY) Senator Anna M. Kaplan joined Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, the entire Long Island Majority Conference Delegation, and members of the Assembly Majority, to announce their support for historic legislation to ban oil and gas drilling off the shores of Long Island. This critical legislation (S.2316) is slated to pass the Senate this Tuesday, February 5, 2019.
Senator Anna M. Kaplan said, “With hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline, our beaches and bays are some of Long Island’s most important natural assets. They not only attract millions of visitors to our region each year, driving significant economic activity, but they support the unique way-of-life that attracted so many of us to raise our families here. If we were to allow oil and gas drilling off our shores, we would be putting at risk so many of the things that make Long Island special. That’s why I’m proud to co-sponsor legislation that would prohibit offshore drilling that could threaten our communities.”
The legislation will update New York State's decades-old laws regulating oil and natural gas drilling. Specifically, this legislation prevents conveyances, leases, and acquisitions of land for offshore oil and gas.
Senator Kaplan concluded, “this is yet another common sense measure supported by Long Islanders that had fallen victim to Albany's dysfunction under the prior majority. I’m proud to say that those days are over, and we are taking action and getting this done!”
