Oil for Parks dominates the news...

There were many articles over the weekend on Schwarzenegger’s plan to fund state parks through revenues generated through a twice-rejected plan to drill new oil wells in the ocean off Santa Barbara. Here are some reactions:

"Blackmail might be a better term for it," said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who chairs the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. "He's saying I'll fund the parks if you'll open up the coast to new oil drilling."

"Why anyone would think this would ever get approved is kind of a mystery," said Elizabeth Goldstein, Executive Director of the California State Parks Foundation, who is championing an $18 vehicle registration fee to fund state parks and give motorists free admission.

"The California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) rejects the Governor’s proposal to eliminate core public funding for California’s 278 state parks and replace it with uncertain funding from an oil drilling project that has not been approved for California, as announced in his proposed 2010-11 State Budget today," a statement from the organization read. "He has resurrected the Tranquillon Ridge offshore oil drilling proposal and has attempted to give this controversial and uncertain financial proposal environmental credentials by directing its proceeds to the state park system."

“Californians should reject this false choice between offshore oil drilling and state parks,” said Graham Chisholm, executive director of Audubon California. “The Governor is hoping that our love for state parks will compel us to take his bitter medicine and support new offshore oil drilling. The park measure will secure the future of our state parks without jeopardizing California’s coast.”

"Our coast is one of our most important economic assets and renewing offshore oil drilling puts at great risk our tourist and fishing industries," said Dan Jacobson with Environment California.

"The hypocrisy of the Governor cannot be overstated," said Susan Jordan who directs the California Coastal Protection Network. " He would rather reverse forty years of bi-partisan California state policy against offshore oil drilling to push through a pet project over 100 statewide groups have joined to oppose rather than require oil companies extracting oil from our state's sea beds pay a severance tax -- their fair share to taxpayers for doing business in California. We are the only oil producing state in America that does not tax extraction of gas and oil on lands owned by the state. This would bring in more than 1.5 billion dollars annually to the state's General Fund," she emphasized.

Governor seeks to use oil money to save parks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/09/MNIJ1BFPO7.DTL

Schwarzenegger: Fund State Parks via Offshore Oil Money
http://laist.com/2010/01/08/schwarzenegger_fund_state_parks_via.php

Arnold Tries Again on T-Ridge
http://www.calbuzz.com/2010/01/arnold-tries-again-on-t-ridge-rumors-of-the-week/

California State Parks Get Drilled by Governor’s Proposed Budget
http://northerncaliforniahikingtrails.com/blog/2010/01/09/california-state-parks-get-drilled-by-governors-proposed-budget/

Enviros blast Arnold’s oil-for-parks plan
http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2010/01/08/enviros-blast-arnolds-oil-for-parks-plan/

Schwarzenegger's Budget Threatens the Coast of California with Offshore Oil Drilling (Environment California)
http://yubanet.com/california/Schwarzenegger-s-Budget-Threatens-the-Coast-of-California-with-Offshore-Oil-Drilling.php?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Yubanet+(YubaNet.com+Headlines)

Want state parks? Let us drill offshore
http://blogs.redding.com/mbeauchamp/archives/2010/01/want-state-park.html

Governor’s budget proposal only proves need for State Parks Initiative
http://www.audublog.org/?p=3201

EPA Issues Draft Permit for Exploratory Wells Off Alaska
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/01/08/08greenwire-epa-issues-draft-permit-for-exploratory-wells-26752.html

Oil lobby scaling back its presence in Tally (FL)
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/01/oil-lobby-scaling-back-its-presence-in-tally.html
“Environmentalists who oppose the proposal, which last year could have led to drilling as close as three-miles offshore, hailed Florida Energy Associates’ downsizing as a sign that supporters were losing their will to continue an increasingly uphill battle.”
Also see http://audubonoffloridanews.org/?p=3630

Governor wants you to choose between offshore oil drilling and state parks (Audubon of CA)
http://www.audublog.org/?p=3185
That’s what he’s asking for on Page 31 of his just-announced proposed budget. Here’s the relevant text:
"Fund State Parks from Tranquillon Ridge Oil Revenues — A reduction of $140 million in General Fund and replacement with revenue generated from the Tranquillon Ridge oil lease. It is estimated that the Tranquillon Ridge oil lease will generate $1.8 billion in advanced royalties over the next 14 years. This revenue will be used to fund state parks. The Governor’s Budget assumes that the State Lands Commission will approve the Tranquillon Ridge proposal. If not approved by the Commission, legislation will be necessary."

A much better solution that provides for stable State Parks funding and increases access to State Parks for all Californians without the "devil's bargain" of new offshore oil drilling is the State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010, a proposed statewide initiative slated for the November 2010.

Salazar, Nava Stand Up to Big Oil

In separate actions yesterday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and California Assemblymember Pedro Nava put out clear signals that neither the federal government nor the State of California are willing to roll over and give the oil companies whatever they ask for, which has too often been at the expense of both our environment and our economy.



Salazar's reforms, which affect drilling on public lands and offshore, mean the Bureau of Land Management no longer will simply accept oil and gas industry nominations when the agency is compiling a list of parcels to be offered at auction. New policies will mean BLM officials will conduct on-the-ground analyses of parcels for potential resource conflicts before they are listed for leasing. This will allow more organizations and individuals with wildlife, cultural-resource and environmental concerns to provide information that could counter industry interests. Predictably, oil companies howled. Secretary Salazar responded: "Under the previous administration, the oil and gas companies were essentially kings of the world, with Interior their handmaiden. Those from the industry who are crying out are simply crying because we are being thoughtful and supporting development in the right way and the right places."



In California, Assemblymember Nava introduced the Oil Industry Fair Share Act, which will establish an oil severance tax of 10% on the gross value of each barrel of crude oil pumped by companies in California. This tax will provide more than $1.5 billion in revenue to the General Fund annually. “California oil companies are getting a free ride. Right now, California is the only major oil producing state that does not charge a severance tax on oil extraction. It is time for California to catch up with Alaska, Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas. We need to collect the people’s share of this revenue source by forcing Big Oil to pay its fair share,” said Nava.

Promises of jobs, revenues from offshore drilling just don't add up (FL)
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/04/scott-maddox-promises-of-jobs-revenues-from-just/

A day at the beach (FL)
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100102/OPINION01/912319928/1017
Perhaps the only way to stop this headlong rush to drill is if enough Floridians stand up and say "no way!" Toward that end, a coalition of environmental, local government and business groups are organizing what amounts to a mass day at the beach this coming Feb. 13. The idea behind the "Hands across the sand" campaign is to try to line Florida beaches with drilling opponents. At 1:30 p.m., participants will "hold hands creating human lines in the sand protesting oil drilling in Florida's waters," according to organizers. "This is a simple, nonpartisan way for Floridians to join hands in an effort to protect our state's most important asset — our waterways and beaches," says Dave Rauschkolb, a Seaside business owner who came up with the idea. "Our goal is to convince legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist to drop the folly of offshore oil drilling." Would legislators take notice if tens of thousands of Floridians joined hands on Feb. 13 to protect Florida's beaches? We hope so, right now they only seem to be taking notice of Big Oil's money and influence.

McDonnell: no delay in offshore exploration (VA)
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/local_state/story/260191.html
Also see http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1853594

Those elusive oil royalties: It's far too early to get pumped up about the dubious rewards of offshore drilling (VA)
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3749290

Moratorium on drilling in Oregon waters expires today (Jan 2)http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/01/moratorium_on_drilling_in_oreg.html

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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