California Says No to Trump Offshore Oil

Feb 10, 2018

Oil seeps around Platform Holly, just off the coast near UC Santa Barbara. It’s been inactive since its 2015 pipeline rupture, after which its owner Venoco went bankrupt. Now the state must remove the platform.


From Huffington Post:

‘The California State Lands Commission has warned the Trump administration that it will fight its plan to open up the Pacific coast to new oil and gas drilling operations.  The commission, which controls the entire California coast, voted unanimously Wednesday to issue a letter stating its staunch opposition to the operations and notifying the federal government that it will not issue the pipeline permits drillers would need to bring oil and gas from new offshore platforms to land. It said it would also not allow existing pipelines to be used for new operations.

Oil on Refugio State Beach in May, 2015, after an oil platform pipeline ruptures.

“The catastrophic harm from an offshore oil spill is well-established. … As a state, California has perhaps the highest risk from an oil spill and the most to lose,” reads the commission’s letter to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “Californians are vigorous advocates for their coast, and the prospect of new drilling in coastal waters provokes fierce opposition and sparks outrage.”

“It is certain that the state would not approve new pipelines or allow use of existing pipelines to transport oil from new leases onshore,” the letter says.

The state legislature is also currently considering a bill that would block new pipeline permits.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who chairs the lands commission, said the state will use “every tool available” to block President Donald Trump’s “cynical, regressive agenda.”

“I am resolved that not a single drop from Trump’s new oil plan ever makes landfall in California, where our leadership in reducing emissions and curbing pollution has enabled exceptional economic growth,” he said in a statement.’

You can see the full article HERE.