AG Healey: Offshore Gas & Oil Program Would Harm Fishing and Tourism

BOSTON (AP) — Attorney General Maura Healey says she’s opposed to the creation of a new five-year national offshore oil and gas leasing program.

Healey said the plan would open up all currently restricted offshore areas to drilling — including Atlantic waters off the Massachusetts coast.

She said the Trump administration is prioritizing the needs of oil companies over the state’s commercial fishing industry.

The Democrat filed public comments with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this week expressing her concerns.

Healey says opening the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas leasing could end up threatening the state’s economy and coastal environment.

She said an oil spill off the coast could “devastate” Massachusetts’ commercial fishing industry — the third largest in the country— and the state’s recreation and tourism industries.