Oil drilling off California coast approved by House panel

[tabatha]

A GOP-led House committee has approved bills that open the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve to oil drilling, encourage oil shale development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and push new oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast.

Republicans say the measures provide energy security and a source of revenue to help pay for roads and bridges, but it was the offshore oil lease sales that sparked the most spirited debate. Any discussion of offshore oil drilling among Californians revolves around the 1969 spill off the Santa Barbara coast that dumped 200,000 gallons of crude across 35 miles of coastline.

Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of Walnut Creek referred to it as he offered objection after objection and amendment after amendment to stall the offshore drilling bill. "There is the probability of oil spills, small and on occasion large, when you drill from the ocean," he said.

But Republican Congressman Tom McClintock, who grew up near Santa Barbara, told fellow members of the House Natural Resources Committee that oil spills in California have been happening for centuries. "It goes back to 1542 when Cabrillo sailed up the coast of California and recorded a massive oil spill off of Ventura, Santa Barbara. It was natural spillage that was seeping up into the ocean. Carpenteria nearby got its name because the Chumach Indians used the huge tar deposits that washed up on the beaches to caulk their canoes."

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/02/01/31070/california-democrats-try-stall-oil-drilling-bills/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I'd like to see McClintock caulk HIS canoe with the stuff.

Goddamn Republicans.

[freshwest]

2. Unbelievable. Can the Senate stop this? Please, please, vote these people out...

[tabatha]

3. They would rather drill than raise taxes on the rich.

[freshwest]

5. Except the drilling won't relieve the budget crisis, it'll go into the private oil company's hands,

And this is more of the same from the crowd that is:

Demanding the Keystone pipeline be fast tracked, announced disbanding the EPA, decried regulations of deep platform drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, ignores studies on the amount of oil to be extracted from ANWAR, and all the rest.

They had the 'Gasland' journalist arrested, hold meetings at country clubs with no press or 'liberals or Democrats' allowed entry, and call for those who make reasonable questions to be killed. They've now forced through laws to control half the population through police state tactics to protect 'life,' when they are promoting death.

Earthquakes come from their fracking, do they want their chance to finally have 'the big one' on the West Coast?

Okay, I may be overreacting, but that seems to be where they're headed, with very little nature left and less humans. I guess these monsters have another planet to live on.

[geekd]

8. just....

just vote out all the incumbents, then little shit like this will not go so smoothly

[freshwest]

9. It was voting out Democrats and bringing in the shiny new GOP brand, the TeaParty that did this.

The vote out all the incumbents strategy didn't work in 2010. Democrats who would have never let this happen were voted out. So, I don't agree.

[thelordofhell]

4. None of this oil will be used by Americans

It's gonna go straight to China

[Firebrand Gary]

6. Huh the GOP can go pound sand!

That will go over like a fart in a space suit here in California.

[dreamnightwind]

7. Other than spills, the coastal vibe is damaged

I go down that way once in awhile, and it sucks how, from the coast, you're seeing these things offshore, and hearing them. Probably shows my internal bias. I'd be ok with seeing and hearing off-shore wind turbines, as long as they weren't too loud.

[ellisonz]

10. Oh hell no...