This just in from Mike Thompson’s office:
Congressman Thompson Introduces Bill to Permanently Ban Drilling on North Coast
WASHINGTON – On the first day in the 111th Congress, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced a bill that would permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. The Northern California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act provides protection to the unique and productive marine environment along Northern California’s outer continental shelf (OCS).
“For the economic and biological health of our country, it’s critical that we permanently protect this unique area from the environmental hazards of off-shore drilling,” said Congressman Thompson. “Unfortunately in the last Congress drilling became a political drama, rather than a policy debate. My legislation is one aspect of a broader campaign to restore sensible, science based policy and ensure the health of our oceans for generations.”
During the last Congress, the ban on OCS drilling expired, which leaves the North Coast susceptible to drilling in as little as three years. The moratorium on OCS drilling had been a bipartisan agreement in Congress since 1982, but came under regular attack, and was not renewed in 2008. In order to make sure that the North Coast of California is permanently protected, Congressman Thompson introduced his legislation today.
“Our coastline is home to one of the four most important upwellings in the world, which together support 20 percent of the ocean’s fish. Drilling on the North Coast doesn’t make sense, either from an economic standpoint or an environmental perspective. By permanently banning drilling, we can provide our coast with the protection it needs, regardless of who is in charge in Washington,” said Congressman Thompson.
Upwelling regions are coastal areas that support extremely abundant and productive marine life. This is because an upwelling brings cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the ocean depths that, when combined with sunlight, enhance seaweed and phytoplankton growth. The seaweed and phytoplankton provide energy for some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, including many of the world’s most important fisheries, such as the North Coast fisheries.
Drilling for gas and oil off the Northern Coast of California could cause serious harm to the unique and productive ecosystem and abundant marine life found off the coast, including the fish many local North Coast economies depend on.
Thoughts?
This article appears in New Year’s Eve.
Well, my thought is “we’re lucky to have Mike”.
That’s BS. Show me somewhere where drilling has been done that’s suffered “serious harm” from it.
Drilling platforms end up becoming artificial reefs, of a sort, and are beneficial to sea life. At least the fish seem to think so.
Show me somewhere where drilling has been done that’s suffered “serious harm” from it.
Santa Barbara, Fred.
Thank you, Congressman Thompson.
Let’s go there now and take a look, Carol. Fish and wildlife thrive there and the area’s a tourist hotspot, as is the rest of SoCal where drilling is done.
Yes, there was an accident there decades ago and the area has bounced back since then. There hasn’t been anything like that happen since then, either.
Sure, you mention the Exxon Valdez spill up in Alaska. That area has recovered since then, as well.
Besides, as I mentioned when we discussed this before, the Exxon- Valdez spill involved shipping, which could happen whether or not we drill of the North Coast.
I’d rather see Americans, and American companies, making money off gas and oil rather than sending most of our money to other countries.
So Fred, just because they cleaned it up and they’re doing well 40 years later it’s all good? That’s some pretty rediculous logic. By the way, you still can’t go in the water there without getting tar all over your feet.
“Animals that depended on the sea were hard hit. Incoming tides brought the corpses of dead seals and dolphins. Oil had clogged the blowholes of the dolphins, causing massive lung hemorrhages. Animals that ingested the oil were poisoned. In the months that followed, gray whales migrating to their calving and breeding grounds in Baja California avoided the channel —their main route south.”
Can’t clean that up, buddy.
I was in Santa Barbara 10 years after the spill and there were still clumps of oil on the beach.
Consider the fragility of our Northern California coast. We live on one of the most seismic areas in the world. Our coastline is very much like the coastline in Southeast Asia where there were the big earthquakes and tsunamis a few years ago.
Yes, I did mention Valdez on another blog thread, but I did mention it was a tanker spill. And from what I have read, the area has not completely recovered. Let’s not forget last year’s devasting oil spill in S.F. Bay. Crab fishing was closed. Clean up is still happening.
unique and productive marine environment is correct. Some oil, lots of natural gas and dare I say, ocean floor mining.
Carol and Hochuli, some of that oil on the beach is natural, oil seeps are common in the area of Ventura anticline and this area too. Check USGS website for reality check. some not of course. I surfed Rincon quite a bit in 80’s, not as bad as you make it seem.
Fragile is a poorly used term, earthquakes are why the resources are here. and the use of the word devastating is emotional poppycock.
That is your opinion, 1:54. Perhaps you might attend a Red Cross meeting regarding living in the Tsunami Zone with HSU Geology Professor, Lori Dengler. I am prepared for the Bug One, are you?
Big One – OOOPS!
Back when I lived in Southern CA I used to occasionally find chunks of oil on the beach. More like tar, as I remember it. As 1:54 noted, some of that is natural seepage from the ocean floor.
I’ll say one thing; If we keep letting the Democrats have their way, nobody’s going to be working in this country except government employees.
“If we keep letting the Democrats have their way?”
Fred, where have you been the last eight years?
Caroil, I am prepared, I live at 200 feet above sealevel. I have food on the land, water in my well.
What do red cross meetings have to do with oil wells? the meetings are about community preparedness. A better use of Denglers time may be in convincing State and local authorites to move critical facilities away from harms way.
What do tsunamis have to do with oil wells out past three miles? nothing if you knew what the mechanics of a tsunami wave were……..something you won’t get a red cross meetings.
you are right carol, it is an opinion, based on observation and fact. Yours is a belief based on tenets held true in the lack of fact and observation. kinda like religion, Get it?
No, I don’t “get it”.
Read today’s Times Standard editorial.
Here it is by cut and paste:
No-drill bill a must for North Coast
The Times-Standard
Posted: 01/08/2009 01:34:09 AM PST
We applaud the effort by Congressman Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, to permanently ban oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Humboldt, Del Norte and Mendocino counties.
A bill put forth by Thompson would prevent drilling outside the 3-mile state jurisdiction. A ban on drilling on the outer continental shelf died in the last Congress, and the U.S. Interior Department quickly moved to open some areas for exploration.
Thompson said that drilling off the California coast could threaten a critical area of ocean in which upwelling brings nutrients from the sea floor and energizes the food chain critical for fisheries, one of few such regions in the world.
We believe that given the political environment, our leaders need to do whatever possible to ensure that our coast doesn’t become the victim of a haphazard search for oil.
Truthfully, rather than spending more time on digging for the dregs of a dying resource, we as a nation should be spending what little resources we have on developing alternative energy sources. Everything else is a waste, and a distraction from this central issue.
We do find it interesting that after Thompson’s near miss in becoming Barack Obama’s candidate for Interior secretary, he wasted no time in introducing environmental legislation with the advent of the new Congressional session.
Maybe Thompson still believes he has a chance at the job in Obama’s second term. Only time will tell.
You want to see oil rigs at their finest, visit the redneck Rivera. That is not what our north coast needs, and if Mr. Mangeles likes Santa Barbara or southern California so much, I am willing to throw down some coin to help see him off.
You don’t “get it” because you use the T-S as your information source. Again, Haphazard search? I think that’s a little emotional and far from the truth of what oil companies do to find resources for us to use. Meanwhile your computer and the servers that hold your blog use about two barrels a year for just your page. wake up.
As for copernicus, you use the resource but won’t allow for its extraction. Very progressive of you.
There is not enough oil there to ruin the coast.
Besides, let the oil companies use the oil leases they already have and don’t use.
To quote Mark Twain, “Buy land, they don’t make it anymore.”
There isn’t much coastal real estate left in California. Let’s not ruin the view and the beaches.
You might be right, most experts do indicate oil reserves off humboldt are probably not economically large enough at this time, hence the Wildcat hills onland. Wildcatting is the exploration and drilling of small oil deposits common in the early days of oil extraction…..BUT what they are really after is natural gas of which there is plenty. A resource we are already tapping onshore.
Your comment on leases shows a lack of understanding on how oil leases or exploration work. Its like saying mineral companies should be mining on every land lease they acquire. Ponder that 60% of every oil well drilled is a dry hole. Ponder that an owner of two adjacent leases may discover through exploration that the oil is more easily extracted from only one of the two leases. Just because there is a lease does not mean there is extractable oil.
You are parroting political bs made by corrupt politicians who will say anything to get a vote.