Reaction To White House’s Oil Drilling Statement
Today, the Trump Administration announced plans to essentially allow offshore drilling in almost all federal waters. Here are some reactions involving California waters.
California U.S. Senator Kamala Harris:
Trump is preparing to auction off almost all of our country’s coastal waters to oil & gas companies for drilling. This is a recipe for disaster with the potential to devastate the economies of coastal cities and towns.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) January 4, 2018
State Rep. Grace Napolitano:
President Trump and Secretary Zinke are again siding with big oil and gas companies over the well-being of families and our planet. We reject these backwards fossil fuel-driven policies and must continue to invest in renewable energy sources.
— Rep.Grace Napolitano (@gracenapolitano) January 4, 2018
The governors of three West Coast states, including Jerry brown, released the following statement:
Washington Governor Jay Inslee, California Governor Jerry Brown and Oregon Governor Kate Brown today issued this joint statement following announcement that the U.S. Department of Interior would seek to open the Pacific Coast to oil and gas offshore drilling for the first time in decades:
“This political decision to open the magnificent and beautiful Pacific Coast waters to oil and gas drilling flies in the face of decades of strong opposition on the part of Washington, Oregon and California – from Republicans and Democrats alike.
“They’ve chosen to forget the utter devastation of past offshore oil spills to wildlife and to the fishing, recreation and tourism industries in our states. They’ve chosen to ignore the science that tells us our climate is changing and we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But we won’t forget history or ignore science.
“For more than 30 years, our shared coastline has been protected from further federal drilling and we’ll do whatever it takes to stop this reckless, short-sighted action.”
Here’s the San Francisco-based Golden Gate Salmon Association:
“Looks like salmon fishermen can expect 2018 to be a year of trying to hold the line against destruction of California salmon by the federal government. Last week the federal Bureau of Reclamation declared war on our Central Valley salmon stocks by moving to greatly increase water diversions from Central Valley rivers and the Delta to agribusiness in the Western San Joaquin Valley. Today we hear from the White House that our coastal salmon fishing grounds are being targeted for neighborhood blight in the form of offshore oil rigs. When does their war on salmon fishing families end?”
From the other perspective, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke were excited:
.@Interior’s offshore drilling announcement is great news for the economy. It means more jobs, more revenue, and more energy produced right here in America. https://t.co/SZsukrVQtn
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) January 4, 2018
Today we announced the new draft offshore oil and gas plan – next step public comment period https://t.co/fjCxrR8CPN
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) January 4, 2018
