Dan's Outside

One Final Thumb in the Eye from the Bush Administration

Reported in SFGate today:

US tells plan to drill of California coast

The U.S. Interior Department, acting in President Bush’s final days in office, proposed on Friday opening up 130 million acres off of California’s coast to drilling for oil and natural gas, including areas off Humboldt and Mendocino counties and from San Luis Obispo south to San Diego.

After a hands-off policy for a quarter-century, the administration submitted plans to sell oil and gas leases for most of the U.S. coast, from the Gulf of Maine to Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Coast…[and in many other sensitive areas.]

…

“President Bush’s last-ditch effort to open our coasts to new drilling is nothing more than a parting gift to his buddies in the oil and gas industry,” said Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

I’ll say.

Fortunately, the article also suggests that this part of the “Bush Legacy” may be reversed by the incoming administration.

January 17, 2009 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | administration, bush, california, coast, drilling, eye, last minute, offshore, oil, thumb