U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal has joined 21 House colleagues from California in expressing strong opposition to any expansion of oil and gas drilling off the state’s coast.
He was among those signing a letter opposing efforts by the Trump administration to expand offshore oil and gas drilling along the state’s coast.
Reps. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara; Alan Lowenthal; Jared Huffman and Mike Levin demanded the Trump administration immediately withdraw any new oil and gas leasing off California from consideration in any future federal program in a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
“The inevitable onshore and offshore risks associated with offshore drilling impact public health, the environment, and our climate,” the members wrote. “For these reasons, every single coastal governor along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Republican and Democrat alike, has stood in opposition to offshore drilling.
“In coastal communities, where livelihoods are built around fishing, tourism and recreation, it is critically important to guard against oil leaks or spills that could harm these ocean dependent economies and fragile marine ecosystems,” the representatives wrote.
They also mentioned the 10-year moratorium on offshore drilling in waters off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, and the 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara’s coast, which killed thousands of marine mammals, fish and birds. Oil washed up on the beaches for hundreds of miles along Central and Southern California.
The letter references the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster 10 years ago as well.
The full letter can be viewed at https://lowenthal.house.gov/sites/lowenthal.house.gov/files/DOI-Letter-CA-Oil-Gas-Leasing.pdf.
email: gmccormick@newspress.com
