Santa Cruz County weighs in against offshore oil drilling
Kurtis Alexander
San Jose Mercury
04/15/2009
SANTA CRUZ -- The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally backed a moratorium on offshore oil-drilling, a move timed with this week's visit by White House officials to discuss energy policy in California.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who is in San Francisco, will convene the last of four nationwide hearings on what oil and gas production should be permitted in federal waters. The debate follows the lapse of a quarter-century ban on new drilling under the Bush administration.
"It's one of those fights we thought we had won long ago," said Supervisor Mark Stone, who authored Tuesday's symbolic resolution opposing drilling, which passed unanimously.
Department of Interior officials are now reconsidering a proposal initiated during President George Bush's last days in office that would allow drilling in areas formerly off-limits, including the California coastline.
"I'm glad the Obama administration has signaled a change from the Bush administration," said Stone. "But if we don't weigh in, I don't want the administration to mistakenly view that as a lack of concern."
A number of counties in California have recently come out against drilling, including Santa Barbara County which made headlines last year when, amid high gas prices and public anger, it passed a resolution in support of oil exploration.
Santa Barbara is considered ground zero for the anti-drilling movement. A 1969 oil spill coated miles of California coastline with crude and killed thousands of seabirds, prompting widespread resentment against the petroleum industry and helping inspire the Clean Water Act.
Many Santa Cruz County environmental groups are encouraging members to attend the San Francisco hearing to make sure local shores do not meet the same fate. While the Monterey Bay enjoys a heightened level of federal protection that precludes drilling, environmental leaders say a spill outside the bay could easily damage the waters within.
"If they're doing outer continental drilling and a spill happens out at sea, that's open ocean and there's no way to contain it," said Dustin McDonald, vice-chair of the Santa Cruz area chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
Oil industry representatives, who will also be attending Thursday's hearing, say opponents of drilling need to be realistic about the need for petroleum...
