How You Can Help
As this debate rages in the weeks and months to come, now more than ever, we need to let our leaders know where we stand. E-mail your member of Congress.
Brief Summary
The
oil lobby would like us to believe that after Katrina and Rita, we can
drill our way out of our nation’s energy problems. But we know that
opening our shores to drilling would only put our beaches and coastal
waters at great risk for a small, short-term supply of oil. and gas. We
can do better. If we allow offshore drilling, we’d still face a
long-term energy crisis while our environment and economy would face
new risks due to the pollution and potential for catastrophic spills
off our coast. We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush
to drill—and start pushing sensible choices like getting better gas
mileage from our cars and trucks.
Oil Rigs: A Risk California’s Coasts Can’t Afford
Offshore drilling activities, which produce a steady stream of
pollution, destroy kelp beds, coral gardens and coastal wetlands. A
single offshore rig can drill between 50 and 100 wells, each dumping
25,000 pounds of toxic metals such as lead, chromium and mercury, and
potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene and xylene, into the ocean.
This pollution from drilling would cause health and reproductive
problems for fish and other marine life.
We’ve seen how oil drilling can devastate our coastline – The infamous
oil spill of 1969 spilled 100,000 barrels of oil off the Santa Barbara
coast from one of Unocal's offshore platforms. Within days, the spill
contaminated 800 square miles of water surface, stretching to the
Mexican border. Millions of birds died, and fish stocks were decimated.
Accidents and operational violations have long been part of the
industry. A catastrophic spill— one that could spoil the ecology and
economic value of our state’s beaches for generations—is a real
possibility.
We Have Cleaner, Safer Choices
Oil drilling proponents say we have no choice, given rising
oil and gas prices. They’re wrong. If our cars and trucks got an
average of a couple more miles per gallon, we’d save more oil than
exists off the entire coast of California. Yet federal gas mileage
standards haven’t significantly changed in 20 years. Instead of
allowing oil companies to drill off our coast, Congress should be
leading the fight in Washington for better gas mileage and clean
energy.
