Excerpts from Governor Schwarzenegger, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Boxer attached.
Sacramento -- “We are extremely disappointed with Senator John McCain and President George Bush in their call to lift the Congressional moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the outer continental shelf that has protected California’s coastline for decades.
The outer continental shelf has been deemed so special that Congress and consecutive presidents have protected our coasts under an Outer Continental Shelf drilling moratorium since 1981. Our coasts provide a destination for thousands of vacationing families each year, the economic lifeblood for thousands of tourism and fishing communities and essential habitat for fish and wildlife.
Offshore drilling is the slowest, dirtiest, most expensive way to meet our energy needs, would do nothing to lower gas prices, and will perpetuate the United State’s dependence on oil, rather than moving the country to a smarter, cleaner energy future. In addition, the proposal would put California’s coastal economy at risk.
The U.S. has just 3% of the world’s oil and gas reserves, and we consume approximately 25% of the world’s supply, thus we will never be able to drill our way to energy independence.
Drilling proponents argue that lifting the moratorium will bring relief from high gas prices despite that fact that it would take seven to ten years to bring any new resources to market, due to the near-term impact on the commodities and futures markets. However, in 2007, President Bush signed legislation that opened an additional 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to new oil and gas drilling. The result is that one year later, gas prices have hit record highs, while the oil industry is making more money than ever. Shell profits this quarter were $9.08 billion, up 25 percent, and BP’s profits soared 63 percent to $7.62 billion.
We don’t need to open new areas to drilling. Currently, the oil industry is drilling in just 1,655 of the 7,740 active leases they hold in the outer continental shelf.
We need all our elected officials to rally around and protect our coast.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
“California's coastline is an international treasure. I do not support lifting this moratorium on new oil drilling off our coast.
“However, I do welcome the national discussion about how to lower the cost of gasoline—soaring prices are taking a toll on California families just as they are across the country.
“We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil. The direction our nation needs to go in, and where California is already headed, is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers. That is the way we will ultimately reduce fuel costs and also protect our environment.”
House majority speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
“Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of public lands they have already leased, but President Bush and Senator McCain want to award them with even more.
“Americans are suffering under the Bush-Cheney-McCain policies that were written by Big Oil: $4 a gallon gasoline; $134 per barrel oil; increased reliance on foreign sources of energy and on hydrocarbons that contribute to climate change.
“Americans use one quarter of the world’s oil consumption every day and we possess less than 2 percent of the world’s supply. We cannot drill our way to energy independence.
“Our nation must move toward a new, cleaner, and more affordable energy future that focuses on renewable and increased energy efficiency. The New Direction Congress has already passed innovative energy legislation and will continue to develop other proposals to address high energy costs and shift our nation to a more energy efficient economy.
“We look forward to having a President in the White House whose energy policy can no longer be described as ‘drill and veto.’”
Senator Diane Feinstein
“There are some who believe that the only solution to our skyrocketing energy crisis is to drill, drill, and drill. And one of their primary targets is the Outer Continental Shelf.
Congress chose to protect these federal waters from oil exploitation in 1981. And Congress has voted to renew that ban every year since then.
But today, these federal protections are under attack.
Let me be clear: lifting the moratoria is a false promise and an unnecessary risk.
A new investigative report from the House Committee on Natural Resources (http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/images/stories/Documents/truth_about_americas_energy.pdf) studied the current system of drilling permits on federal lands and in federal waters. And what they found is this: we simply cannot drill our way out of this problem.
Here’s what the report found:
- There is no correlation between increased drilling and lower gas prices. The number of drilling permits increased by 361 percent from 1999 to 2007. And yet gas prices more than doubled in that time.
- The vast majority of the oil and natural gas believed to be on the Outer Continental Shelf is already available for exploitation. In fact, 82 percent of natural gas and 79 percent of oil believed to exist on the Outer Continental Shelf is available for drilling throughout existing leases – right now.
- Oil and gas companies are failing to exploit the existing drilling permits they have been issued. In fact, there are 10,000 additional permits for 68 million acres of federal lands and waters where drilling leases have been issued, but are not being used to increase production. And about 35.5 million acres of those existing, non-producing leases are located in federal waters.
- Efforts to reopen the federal waters off the coast of California to drilling could allow unreliable oil rigs to be as close as three miles to our beaches.
Californians are all too familiar with the consequences of offshore drilling. An oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara killed thousands of birds, as well as dolphins, seals, and other marine animals. And we know this could happen again.
That’s why California has had in place additional protections to prohibit oil and gas drilling in State waters since 1994. The people of California feel strongly about protecting the coast of California from offshore drilling. And so do I.
Bottom line: we need a real, long-term strategy to address our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels. We need to reduce our energy consumption. To make the shift towards renewable energy and clean technology.
This – and not the mantra of drilling – is the solution to our energy crisis. This is the way forward. The choice could not be clearer.”
Senator Barbara Boxer
“Today’s statement by President Bush was the height of hypocrisy—two years ago he said America is addicted to oil, and today, he wants to feed that addiction by going back to the past policies of drill, drill, drill. John McCain has now flip-flopped and joined the President’s bandwagon.
Not only is this proposal irresponsible and short-sighted, but it flies in the face of President Bush’s father’s legacy.
Offshore oil drilling threatens America’s $60 billion coastal economy, and we certainly don’t need to lift the moratoria to allow new leases when the oil companies hold 68 million acres of undeveloped leases.
We need to get serious about America’s energy security—that means going after the oil speculators now in order to bring down gas prices, and make the important, long-term investments in alternative fuels, hybrid technology, and energy efficiency.”
