Earlier this year, the president’s administration unveiled a plan to expand offshore drilling and gas leasing in nearly all U.S. waters. Like in many other coastal regions, implementing such a plan in New York could harm hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of state revenue that depend on clean, oil-free water and beaches and abundant fish and wildlife. Fortunately, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hammered home New York’s vehement opposition to harmful and outdated offshore drilling by signing a bill on April 29 that prohibits such operations in the state’s coastal areas. The new legislation entails banning oil and gas exploration, development and production in state coastal and tidal underwater land; and prohibits the leasing of land that would lead to an increase of oil or natural gas production from federal waters. The initiative constructs an important roadblock to any efforts to bring ashore oil drilled throughout New England and the tri-state area.