U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) is challenging offshore oil drilling with his first piece of legislation: the California Clean Coast Act, which he introduced to Congress on Jan. 28.
The act would permanently ban future oil and gas leasing off the California coast, and it has garnered support from local environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Center and the Sierra Club.
The proposed legislation comes 10 months after federal agencies determined offshore well stimulation treatments don’t significantly impact ocean environments in the Santa Barbara Channel, ending a federal moratorium on oil and gas drilling in that area.
Environmental groups have since resisted that impact report, with protests at the Pacific office for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and litigation pushing for a more thorough review of environmental impacts.
“Californians at all levels of government and people who live here and call this beautiful state our home don’t want new drilling in our oceans,” Kristen Monsell, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Sun in a previous interview. “It’s an incredibly dangerous practice that has a history of enacting incredible environmental destruction to our coastal environment.”
But for the time being, BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement could approve new leases for offshore oil and gas drilling, including fracking, off California’s coast.
Oil company DCOR was the first to take advantage of this, submitting an application on Dec. 6, 2016, to frack from Platform Gilda in the Santa Barbara Channel for 30 days, starting on Sept. 1 of this year. Federal agencies had not decided on DCOR’s application as of press time.
Under Carbajal’s legislation, such applications from oil companies would come to a halt.
“In California, our coastal communities, local economies, and fragile ocean ecosystems cannot afford another disastrous oil spill,” Carbajal said in a press release. “That is why it is critical that we pass this legislation to protect our coastal environment from further oil drilling and preserve its beauty and vibrancy for future generations.”
This article appears in Feb 2-9, 2017.
