Protect our coastlines from reckless oil and gas drilling

As a constituent of U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, I urge him to protect our public lands and coastlines from reckless oil and gas drilling by voting yes on three critical bills coming to a vote in Washington this week:

First, the Arctic Refuge Cultural and Coastal Plain Act (HR 1146). This bill would protect the Arctic refuge, its wildlife and native people who depend on them by prohibiting President Donald Trump’s Bureau of Land Management from offering any leases for oil and gas drilling.

Second, the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act (HR 1941). This bill would block Trump’s Department of the Interior from allowing oil and gas leasing off our Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and protect us from more risky oil and gas development and the threat of catastrophic oil spills and pollution.

Third, the Protecting and Securing Florida’s Coastline Act of 2019 (HR 205). This bill would permanently extend the moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, protecting Florida’s economy, communities and critically endangered species like the Bryde’s whale and sea turtles from devastating oil spills.

Without these proposed laws, the Trump administration has a green light to allow drill rigs to put the Arctic Refuge and nearly every inch of our nation’s coastlines at risk of devastating oil spills.

It’s unconscionable, and it must be stopped.

Expanding drilling threatens our waters, communities and marine wildlife. It blocks our path to a clean energy future and drives us even closer to the brink of climate catastrophe.

It’s nothing more than another handout to private oil companies, forcing the American public to pay the price for risky fossil fuel development.

I urge all my elected officials to vote yes on these three bills when they come to the floor.

Karen Padecky, Melrose Park

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Fed up with O’Hare’s jet noise

People living near O’Hare Airport know jet noise is nothing to laugh about, but I found the use of “taking one for the team” laughable in the article about the planned Interim Fly Quiet Runway Rotation Plan.

Schiller Park and other communities have been “taking one for the team” for years!

We cannot enjoy cooler weather at night because the jet noise makes it impossible to hear your TV or enjoy your backyard. Planes taking off in the middle of the night jolt you out of bed.

Yet Schiller Park and other affected communities are not fully soundproofed.

The night time rotations are simply a Band-Aid to an ever-increasing noise problem. I’m sure many residents will agree that we are literally tired of getting tackled with noise for the “team!”

Barbara J. Piltaver, Schiller Park