California Budget Deal May Mean New Offshore Oil Drilling

Proposed deal would allow first new offshore oil leases in 40 years

The same state budget crisis that could shutter 220 of California’s state parks and beaches, may also open the door for the first new offshore oil leases in state waters in forty years. That is, if a proposal floated in the closed-door state budget negotiations on Thursday wins approval from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

If approved, the deal would pave the way for the first offshore oil leases in California state waters since the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and the California Sanctuary Act. In so doing, it would effectively bypass the current regulatory process for formalizing the leases.

“It would be a complete corruption of the safeguards that Californians have demanded in order to protect the coastlines from oil development,” said State Assemblymember Pedro Nava, via telephone on Thursday afternoon.

Nava, who represents California’s 35 District (Santa Barbara), said the proposal was floated during the budget negotiations currently underway in Sacramento between Gov. Schwarzenegger and the top two legislators in each party, otherwise known as “The Big Five”.

Schwarzenegger and other supporters of the plan believe the offshore drilling will result in $1.8 billion in revenues for the state by 2022.

Nava said he was not sure if it was Democrats or Republicans that brought the proposal to the table, but that the governor has the power and the authority to out of hand reject the proposal. “The governor can say no,” he said.

Assemblymember Nava said that the Governor has established his environmental credentials, but “if he allows the first new lease in state waters, that will be the only thing he will be remembered for… that will be his legacy.”

In January, California regulators rejected a compromise that would have closed four offshore oil platforms and allowed new drilling in state waters for the first time in forty years.

The California State Lands has the power to approve any new leases in the state. When the proposal was evaluated it was found to be unenforceable and rejected in a 2-1 vote.

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