Hair Further's plan to drill all of the outer continental shelf was dealt a setback by the state of California's legislature which passed a bill today barring the state's Land Commission from approving new leases that would support off-shore drilling for oil and gas. The bill does not block maintenance activities of current offshore drilling infrastructure including that used for transporting oil and gas in state waters. The representatives from Santa Barbara, which suffered a catastrophic oil spill in 1969, pushed the bill through the Assembly where it received bi-partisan support. It will go to the Senate where a version of it has already passed by large majority.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Management has prepared a draft environmental impact statement for expanded drilling on the Pacific outer continental shelf. There are thirty-eight active leases off California's coast. A public opinion survey conducted in July show 67% of respondents oppose more drilling in federal waters off California. Since 1986, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, more than 600 oil and gas pipeline
spills, explosions and other incidents have occurred in California,
causing at least $769 million in damages, 200 injuries and close to 50
deaths. “The threat and reality of oil spills impact all communities. Our
legislature joins this growing multitude of voices in taking legislative
action against the shortsighted expansion of offshore oil drilling,” said one of the bill's sponsors.