Stop Offshore Drilling - Environment California

What's New

In August 2007, President Bush removed the 27 year old moratorium that protected California's coast from new offshore drilling leases. In his final days in office, he opened 150 million acres of coast to offshore drilling, including areas such as Big Sur and Santa Barbara.

On April 16th, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar came to San Francisco to hear how California citizens feel about offshore drilling. Environment California was there to say "NO" to offshore drilling. We also worked with Assembly Members Pedro Nava and Jared Huffman to have 26 elected state officials sign on to a letter to Mr. Salazar asking him to keep California safe from expanded offshore drilling.

We are also sponsoring a resolution by Assemblyman Nava, AJR 3, that urges the federal government to reinstate a national moratorium on drilling.

How You Can Help

In September, Secretary Salazar will make his final decision on what to do about offshore drilling. He will decide whether to reinstate a moratorium, or to allow oil companies to buy chunks of our coast to set up rigs and drill.

Take action. E-mail your member of congress and tell them to tell Secretary Salazar to protect the coast.

Brief Summary

The oil lobby would like us to believe that after Katrina and Rita, we can drill our way out of our nation’s energy problems. But we know that opening our shores to drilling would only put our beaches and coastal waters at great risk for a small, short-term supply of oil. and gas. We can do better. If we allow offshore drilling, we’d still face a long-term energy crisis while our environment and economy would face new risks due to the pollution and potential for catastrophic spills off our coast. We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill—and start pushing sensible choices like getting better gas mileage from our cars and trucks.

Oil Rigs: A Risk California’s Coasts Can’t Afford

Offshore drilling activities, which produce a steady stream of pollution, destroy kelp beds, coral gardens and coastal wetlands. A single offshore rig can drill between 50 and 100 wells, each dumping 25,000 pounds of toxic metals such as lead, chromium and mercury, and potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene and xylene, into the ocean. This pollution from drilling would cause health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life.

We’ve seen how oil drilling can devastate our coastline – The infamous oil spill of 1969 spilled 100,000 barrels of oil off the Santa Barbara coast from one of Unocal's offshore platforms. Within days, the spill contaminated 800 square miles of water surface, stretching to the Mexican border. Millions of birds died, and fish stocks were decimated.

Accidents and operational violations have long been part of the industry. A catastrophic spill— one that could spoil the ecology and economic value of our state’s beaches for generations—is a real possibility.

We Have Cleaner, Safer Choices

Oil drilling proponents say we have no choice, given rising oil and gas prices. They’re wrong. If our cars and trucks got an average of a couple more miles per gallon, we’d save more oil than exists off the entire coast of California. Yet federal gas mileage standards haven’t significantly changed in 20 years. Instead of allowing oil companies to drill off our coast, Congress should be leading the fight in Washington for better gas mileage and clean energy.

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	Stop Offshore Drilling What's New In August 2007, President Bush removed the 27 year old moratorium that protected California's coast from new offshore drilling leases. In his final days in office, he opened 150 million acres of coast to offshore drilling, including areas such as Big Sur and Santa Barbara. On April 16th, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar came to San Francisco to hear how California citizens feel about offshore drilling. Environment California was there to say "NO" to offshore drilling. We also worked with Assembly Members Pedro Nava and Jared Huffman to have 26 elected state officials sign on to a letter to Mr. Salazar asking him to keep California safe from expanded offshore drilling. We are also sponsoring a resolution by Assemblyman Nava, AJR 3, that urges the federal government to reinstate a national moratorium on drilling. How You Can Help In September, Secretary Salazar will make his final decision on what to do about offshore drilling. He will decide whether to reinstate a moratorium, or to allow oil companies to buy chunks of our coast to set up rigs and drill. Take action. E-mail your member of congress and tell them to tell Secretary Salazar to protect the coast. Brief Summary The oil lobby would like us to believe that after Katrina and Rita, we can drill our way out of our nation’s energy problems. But we know that opening our shores to drilling would only put our beaches and coastal waters at great risk for a small, short-term supply of oil. and gas. We can do better. If we allow offshore drilling, we’d still face a long-term energy crisis while our environment and economy would face new risks due to the pollution and potential for catastrophic spills off our coast. We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill—and start pushing sensible choices like getting better gas mileage from our cars and trucks. Oil Rigs: A Risk California’s Coasts Can’t Afford Offshore drilling activities, which produce a steady stream of pollution, destroy kelp beds, coral gardens and coastal wetlands. A single offshore rig can drill between 50 and 100 wells, each dumping 25,000 pounds of toxic metals such as lead, chromium and mercury, and potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene and xylene, into the ocean. This pollution from drilling would cause health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life. We’ve seen how oil drilling can devastate our coastline – The infamous oil spill of 1969 spilled 100,000 barrels of oil off the Santa Barbara coast from one of Unocal's offshore platforms. Within days, the spill contaminated 800 square miles of water surface, stretching to the Mexican border. Millions of birds died, and fish stocks were decimated. Accidents and operational violations have long been part of the industry. A catastrophic spill— one that could spoil the ecology and economic value of our state’s beaches for generations—is a real possibility. We Have Cleaner, Safer Choices Oil drilling proponents say we have no choice, given rising oil and gas prices. They’re wrong. If our cars and trucks got an average of a couple more miles per gallon, we’d save more oil than exists off the entire coast of California. Yet federal gas mileage standards haven’t significantly changed in 20 years. Instead of allowing oil companies to drill off our coast, Congress should be leading the fight in Washington for better gas mileage and clean energy.