New offshore oil drilling along US coastline and a sneaky republican

[LVT]

Anyone hear anything about this?


Quiet talk of drilling offshore
'Stealth strategy' worries opponents
Jane Kay, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, March 10, 2005


The powerful House Resources Committee, headed by a California Republican lawmaker, is quietly circulating what environmentalists call a "stealth strategy'' to overturn nearly a quarter-century of bans against new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the U.S. coastline.

The obscure draft legislation, called SEACOR, or the State Enhanced Authority for Coastal and Offshore Resources Act of 2005, would expand state control over energy development in offshore waters -- and at the same time eliminate the blanket West and East Coast moratoriums given by Congress since 1982.

California and a dozen other states have depended on the hands-off policy to protect sensitive coastal waters against catastrophes such as the Santa Barbara pipeline blowout of 1969, which blackened beaches and killed countless numbers of birds and other sea life.

The measure, under the wing of the committee chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has not been formally introduced in Congress, but it has been quietly making the rounds of industry groups for a year and a half. Trade groups such as the American Gas Association, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America and the American Iron and Steel Institute, which says it gave input to the House Energy Committee on preparing SEACOR, have been lobbying for its inclusion in a pending omnibus energy bill.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/10/MNGHOBN6M11.DTL


Offshore-oil plan should be capped

Wednesday, March 16, 2005


CALIFORNIA'S ELECTED representatives have fought off the threat of offshore-oil drilling for more than two decades, which is just one of the reasons why Tracy Republican Rep. Richard Pombo's latest misstep makes him look so hopelessly out of touch.

Pombo is the head of the House Resources Committee, which, as The Chronicle reported last week, is quietly circulating draft legislation to overturn bans on new offshore oil and gas drilling along wide swaths of the U. S. coastline. The measure would expand state control over energy development in coastal waters but also would eliminate blanket federal moratoriums on drilling extended by Congress since 1982.

Trade groups such as the American Gas Association and the Industrial Energy Consumers of America have been lobbying to get the draft legislation made law. Pombo's "stealth strategy,'' as environmentalists refer to it, involves potentially slipping the proposed legislation into a pending energy bill next month.

If that were to happen, then the measure conceivably could be approved without public comment. And similar to the effects offshore-oil drilling has often had on the nation's coastlines, that would be an unmitigated disaster.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/16/EDGBPBPDLN1.DTL

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. The collapse of modern civilizatin is most likely upon us

we have learned nothing, and you know what? when all is said and done, with the current congress, the people may want blue skies, we will get a "clean air initiative". We may not want drillng, you will see them off shore... it does nto matter what we want

This is a government of the corporation for the corporations so help me god, and the queers cannot marry...

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[bluedog]

3. tisk tisk.should have gotten it in writing for that Vote

With gulf safe, drilling gets Martinez R (FL)vote



"I wanted to make sure that my vote for ANWR would in no way weaken Florida's protection from offshore drilling, but indeed would strengthen it," Martinez said.

Martinez said he could not have supported drilling in Alaska without the administration's assurances to leave the gulf alone.

"I was very clear" to the White House, he said. "I was clear to my leadership, and that was in the balance as we negotiated into late last night, and early this morning."


In a letter to Martinez dated Wednesday, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton wrote that the "administration will continue to support the existing congressional moratoria and the presidential withdrawals that prohibit offshore energy development near the Florida coast through 2012."

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/17/State/With_gulf_safe_...


people were wondering why he backed this as we are worried about our coast....he made a f'ing deal...........