Schwarzenegger to seek federal help for California budget
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget23-2009dec23,0,7164018.story?track=rss
“One new source of revenue in the budget: Schwarzenegger will revive a plan to allow offshore oil drilling from an existing platform off the Santa Barbara coast. The proposal was so controversial during last summer's budget debate that after the Assembly voted down the plan, members expunged the vote, erasing it from the public record.”

On a related note, we thought it would be interesting to point out this text from the Schwarzenegger administration' s California Ocean Action Strategy (2004):

"Eliminate Adverse Impacts of Offshore Oil and Gas Development. The Schwarzenegger Administration will continue to defend California’s right and duty to protect the California coast from the impacts of new offshore oil and gas leasing, exploration, or development on the federal Outer Continental Shelf and will encourage the federal government to seek a settlement to extinguish the 36 leases off the California Coast."

Environmentalists: Why T-Ridge is a Bad Deal (CA)

http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/why-t-ridge-offshore-oil-project-is-a-bad-deal/

Offshore Arctic Oil Spills Not so Easy to Clean up, Study Finds
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/offshore-arctic-oil-spills-not,1100224.shtml

Top 10 stories of 2009: Argument over drilling on the OCS
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11714762

Why Some Enviros Back T-Ridge Oil Project (CA)
http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/why-some-enviros-back-t-ridge-oil-project/

The Environmental Impacts of Offshore Oil Drilling
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ829741&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ829741

Offshore Oil Drilling - Not the Answer in Oregon

In Oregon, Rep. Ben Cannon, chairman of the House Environment and Water Committee, says he’ll ask the Legislature in its February session to renew the state’s oil-drilling moratorium and turn it into a permanent ban. Portland-based Environment Oregon and Surfrider Foundation's Oregon chapters support this action.

Cannon stated that there’s not enough oil and gas in Oregon coastal waters to risk marring the state’s fishing and tourism industries, and the state is promoting wave energy as a cleaner, renewable energy source. “As far as Oregon is concerned, it’s just a poor economic use of our ocean,” Cannon says of oil drilling.

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A Terrible Place to Drill for Oil

The following is from an article by Greg Haegele, Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Club and Athan Manuel, Director of the Sierra Club Public Lands Protection Program.

Image credit: Beehive Collective, Art Not Oil.

The Chukchi Sea is a terrible place to drill for oil, both because of its ecological importance and because it would be incredibly difficult to remove and transport any oil found in the region. Remote and pristine, the Chukchi Sea provides important habitat for threatened polar bears and endangered whales. The area Shell has leased is 80 miles off shore, in waters frozen solid most of the year and only open when the ice breaks up from July to mid-October. Worse, the Chukchi's churning sea ice would make it impossible to clean up an oil spill.

Shell's pursuit of oil in the Chukchi Sea simply doesn't make sense. Right now, the rest of the world is working together to end our dependence on fossil fuels and move into the clean energy economy. But Shell is continuing to blindly pursue its desperate search for oil - even in a place as unpromising and risky as Alaska's Chukchi Sea.

Drilling in the Chukchi Sea is a foolish move on Shell's part. We shouldn't allow the company to destroy important Arctic habitat in the pursuit of its outdated pipe dream. It's time to stop chasing every drop of oil on the planet and start focusing on clean energy instead.

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Eskimos and conservationists challenge Beaufort Sea drilling http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/12/eskimos-and-conservationists-challenge-beaufort-sea-drilling.html

Shell Oil Beaufort Sea Drilling Plans Challenged
http://climateofourfuture.org/shell-oil-beaufort-sea-drilling-plans-challenged/

Delegation hears the pros and cons of drilling (FL)http://www.bradenton.com/news/story/1918423.html

Alaska groups sue to stop offshore drilling
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfc96O1f3W1VbJMX1ovX8sma_nDAD9CJV9280

Scott Maddox: Drilling won't give us what proponents promise (FL)
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091215/OPINION05/912150302/1006/opinion

Captiva official urges SW Florida legislators to oppose offshore drilling
http://www.news-press.com/article/20091215/GREEN/91215044/1075/Captiva-official-urges-SW-Florida-legislators-to-oppose-offshore-drilling

Oil Rigs Close Near Australia as Cyclone Intensifies
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=adFBcceN05_4
Tropical Cyclone Laurence, Australia’s first storm of the season, is intensifying as it moves closer to the northwestern coast, triggering evacuations of offshore oil and gas rigs.
Winds with gusts as high as 165 kilometers per hour are being experienced in the Kimberley area and winds with gusts to 130 kph are expected later today further southwest, along with heavy rain.

Senate Climate Roadmap Caters to Nuclear, Offshore Drilling Proponents
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/12/11/11climatewire-senate-climate-roadmap-caters-to-nuclear-off-77696.html
“Offshore drilling would also see new incentives under the bill. The senators said their legislation would seek to boost the supply of domestically produced oil and natural gas both on land and offshore. "We will do so in a way that sends money back to the states that opt to drill and also provides new federal government revenues to advance climate goals," the framework states.”

Solving climate change through oil, nukes and coal?
http://publiccitizenenergy.org/2009/12/10/solving-climate-change-through-oil-nukes-and-coal/
“And, apparently concerned that the hundreds of billions of dollars earned by oil companies isn’t enough profit, these 3 Senators pledge to open more oil and gas drilling offshore and on land, and promise to protect the domestic oil refining industry.”

Offshore drilling would put $100 million in state coffers: Democrats balk at plan (CA)
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3707290
As I’ve noted before, it always seems to be the “inland” legislators that are advocating for new offshore oil drilling.