In Washington, DC, the petroleum industry is launching challenges to the fragile protection we have against offshore oil drilling in Mendocino and all the costal waters around the United States. Only an ocean protection movement with renewed vigor and organization can hope to protect our off shore waters from oil drilling.
The good news is that the one-year funding moratorium protecting Mendocino and other offshore areas from drilling has been approved through October, 1994. Also, the California Ocean Protection Act, which would permanently protect all unleased California offshore waters from oil drilling and other environmental insults, is being vigorously advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Hamburg, Woolsey, Pelosi, Eschew, and Schenk. It is important to thank these people for helping the ocean. Also, please write immediately to these three committees with ocean-friendly leaders, asking for field hearings in San Francisco for HR 2583, the California Ocean Protection Act:
MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES: Gerry Studds, Chair; Solomon P. Ortiz, Sub-Committee Chair; Sub-Committee on Oceanography, H2-575, Ford HOB, Wash., DC 20515
NATURAL RESOURCES: George Miller, Chair; Richard H. Lehman, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources, H1-522 O'Neill HOB, Wash., DC 20515
PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION: Norman Minetta, Chair; Douglas Applegate, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee on Water Resources and the Environment, B 370A-Rayburn HOB Wash., DC 20515.
NOTE: The committee chairs are all allies, but we don't know about the sub-committee chairs. They NEED to hear from you NOW!
The bad news is that Senator Bennett Johnson has reneged on his commitment to hear the California Ocean Protection Act in the Senate Energy Committee, which he chairs, and which probably will doom passage of this bill during this legislative session. Oil industry representatives occupy the Clinton Administration from top to bottom, and are fiercely lobbying to end the one-year moratoria which have saved Mendocino and many other areas from drilling for many years.
The crucial funding moratorium battle will again be engaged next spring! Currently this year's budget is being prepared, by Leon Panetta, a moratorium supporter. But, there is currently a tug-o-war going on in the administration with the phalanx of oil industry representatives within the administration, from Clinton's sidekick McLarity, on down. They include leading positions in the Department of Interior (DOE) and the Minerals Management Services (MMS). These DOI/MMS oil proponents have called for an end to the moratorium in the Senate Energy Committee. Meanwhile, Richard Charter's Local Government Coordinating Program, which has led the successful annual moratorium fight for years, has been de-funded and canceled by California local governments.
According to at least one long-time observer, the Clinton Administration may be worse for the ocean than was the Bush Administration. Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbit, went to Alaska, kissed the ass of Alaska Governor Walter Hickel, and is pushing forward with an offshore oil leasing program that covers huge ocean ecosystems in Alaska. Only pressure from activists outside of Alaska can stop this rape of Alaska's ocean waters. Learn the names of the magnificent environments of Alaska in process of being leased to the oil industry over the next five years:
Cook Inlet and Shelikoff Straits, are in process of leasing. On schedule now; Saint George Basin, Gulf of Alaska, Hope Basin, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea.
Spread the word about Alaska's current threats and the need for help from the lower 48. The Alaskan environmentalists and native people will not be able to stop these leases without our help. This threat is bigger than the threat to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
What can you do right now? Send letters of thanks to Rep. Sidney Yates, who has been the House leader of the moratorium for over a decade: 2109 Rayburn, Wash., DC 20515; He's the House Appropriations Sub Committee Chair. Also, thank for their work on the California Ocean Protection Act and the moratorium: Dan Hamburg, 114 Cannon; Lynn Wollsey, 439 Cannon; Nancy Pellosi, 240 Cannon; Lynn Schenk, 315 Cannon; all Wash., DC 20515. Thank Senators Barbara Boxer, 112 Hart and Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart; both Wash., DC 20510, for their continued work on the California Ocean Protection Act and the moratorium. These letters let our reps. know of our appreciation and EXPECTATION that they will continue to work on behalf of the ocean. We must organize our energies and strategize for protection of the ocean, now!
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1998
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited