The U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 16 approved legislation authorizing the Secretary of Interior to resume oil and gas leasing off the coast of Santa Barbara County and elsewhere, starting July 1, 2014.
With a 237-187 vote, the House passed the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act—a $260-billion bill introduced by House Republicans—including a provision mandating new oil and gas drilling off the nation’s coastlines to help fund repairs to transportation infrastructure.
Prior to the vote, U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) offered an amendment to strike the provision, which she called “harmful and unnecessary” in a written statement.
“Not only does this outrageous bill mandate new drilling, but it also guts the critical environmental laws written and passed in response to the 1969 oil spill of our coast,” Capps wrote. “I find it ironic that some of the same people in this body who decry ‘an overarching Federal government’ seem to have no qualms about forcing new drilling upon a local population directly against its wishes.”
As passed, the bill would authorize new oil drilling from existing sites, both onshore and offshore, in compliance with federal environmental laws. Hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking”—operations wouldn’t be allowed.
The legislation isn’t expected to pass through the Democratically controlled Senate, and even if it does, President Barack Obama has vowed to veto it.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2012.
