Dear Friends,
Please tell Governor Schwarzenegger that the California Coast is not for sale.
A few months ago, President Obama pledged that his election marked ‘a new era of responsibility,’ when America would, once and for all, ‘roll back the specter of a warming planet’ and bring about a new age powered by clean energy and green jobs. With that in mind… one has to wonder why Governor Schwarzenegger would think it appropriate to initiate the first off shore oil drilling leases in California in over 40 years.
For those who don’t remember, on January 29th, 1969, a massive oil spill from Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara created an environmental nightmare the likes of which our state had never experienced. According to the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, “the animals that depended upon the sea were hit the hardest. Incoming tides brought the corpses of dead seals and dolphins. Oil clogged the blow-holes of dolphins causing massive lung hemorrhages. Animals that had ingested the oil were poisoned. In the months that followed, gray whales migrating to their breeding grounds in Baja avoided the channel – their main route south.” Thousands of birds were estimated to have died because of contact with the oil. Witnesses recall a stench that wafted up into the neighborhoods drawing concerned residents to the beach where they were met with a shockingly silent black ocean… thick with oil… and an apocalyptic landscape of ecological destruction.Since that tragic day in 1969, California strengthened its resolve to reduce and eliminate drilling off its coast. In 1994, the California Legislature passed the California Sanctuary Act that generally prohibited new leasing off the coast and gave the California State Lands Commission the absolute discretion and authority to deny any NEW LEASE application on the simple finding that it was NOT in the best interest of the State of California.Thus, on January 29th, 2009, the California State Lands Commission rightfully denied the application of the Plains Exploration and Production Company for the first new oil lease in state waters since that infamous day. In the face of mounting calls to “Drill, Baby, Drill,” it was a courageous decision that they made.
However, Governor Schwarzenegger then retreated to a back room… and concocted a deal behind closed doors that is DESIGNED to usurp the California State Lands Commission. One minute the Governor loudly proclaims that he IS oppose to any new offshore oil drilling of the coast of California…and the next minute he uses fear tactics and the cloak of our economic crisis to hold a fire sale of our coastal resources.Ironically, the Governor’s plan comes at a time when the Obama Administration and Congress are shaking loose from the failed energy policies of the Bush Administration and are working to pass comprehensive Clean Energy Legislation by Senator Waxman and Congressman Markey that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and move us towards a clean energy future.
My wife Keely and I urge you to CALL and take immediate action to flood their offices with your objections.
Sample statement:
- REMOVE PXP FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE BUDGET.
- Do not allow offshore oil drilling.
- PXP has many problems and it will set the stage for federal OCS.
- If Governor Schwarzenegger wants oil money in the budget, the Governor and the Republicans should vote for a extraction tax on existing oil production which would yield close to $1 Billion dollars in this fiscal year alone to help plug the budget hole. (CA is the only oil producing state that does not have an extraction tax.)
- Do not allow the precedent to be set that the State Lands Commission can be dismantled and put under the unilateral control of the Governor.
Speaker Karen Bass:
(916) 319-2047 phone
(916) 319-2147 fax
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg:
(916) 651-4006 phone
(916) 323-2263 fax
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger- in this case tell him to keep his word and opposed OCS
916-445-2841 phone
916-558-3160 fax
Currently over 45 environmental organizations oppose PXP and this budget deal and you should too. We urge you to take action and send a clear message to the Governor AND the State Legislature that our precious coast is not for sale… at any price.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Keely and Pierce Brosnan
From Official Pierce Brosnan site
No comments:
Post a Comment