By Victoria Brandon, Redwood Chapter Chair
Since assuming power nearly a year ago the Trump administration has proposed one assault on the environment after another, with actions ranging from withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord to wholesale cancellation of protections for sensitive public lands.
Now, after months of threats, they have announced plans to accept bids for offshore oil leases everywhere along our coasts except for Florida. Six sites in California would be immediately included, two in the south, two in the center, and two here on the North Coast. Californians have already seen coastal drilling foul our pristine beaches, destroy fragile wildlife habitat, and undercut the visitor-based economy that so many coastal communities depend upon.
As detailed in a visit to the Chapter executive committee by Oceans Foundation Director Richard Charter on January 6, we’ve been lucky so far in this region. Thanks largely to the efforts of the Sierra Club, drilling proposals along the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts were defeated in the 1970’s, and efforts by Reagan administration Secretary of the Interior James Watt to open coastal areas to drilling came to nothing when Congress refused to appropriate the necessary funding, and then imposed a moratorium that was renewed annually from 1981 to 2009.
Then in June 2015 coastal advocates breathed a massive sigh of relief when President Obama authorized the expansion of the Cordell Banks and Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries, more than doubling their size and establishing what was intended to be permanent protection for the most fragile parts of the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts to north of Point Arena. At the Gualala celebration of this decree Congressman Jared Huffman speculated about pushing the boundaries even farther north: “there’s no logical stopping point short of the Arctic.”
Enter Donald Trump. The “America First Energy Policy” (enacted April 28, 2017) incorporates direct threats to permanently protected lands, including a directive to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to “review” five National Marine Sanctuary designations, including Cordell Banks and Greater Farallones. The Point Arena Basin, which is half in and half out of the Sanctuary, may be particularly at risk.
We can’t let this catastrophic travesty take place.
In a typically mean-spirited and cynical tactic, only one hearing is proposed in each coastal state -- and they are all sited in state capitals, NOT in the coastal communities where massive attendance from an outraged public would be likely. California’s one and only Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hearing will be held from 3-7PM on February 8, at the obscure Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I Street in Sacramento.
The Sierra Club and our partner organizations will to fight this outrage in every possible way from the submission of expert comments to possible litigation, and we need your help.
Here’s what you can do:
- Send a message urging BOEM to hold additional meetings in California, including some in coastal areas
- Call or write your Congressional representative to let them know you oppose offshore drilling and to urge them to demand additional hearings
- Most important of all, plan to attend the February 8 meeting, and RSVP to BOEM to let them know you’re coming.
Besides the hearing itself, a massive protest is planned on the steps of the State Capitol. The chapter is hoping to organize some carpools or to provide bus or van transport from Santa Rosa, and if participation warrants, from other locations as well. If you plan to attend the hearing, especially if you’d like a ride, please let me know by sending an email to vbrandon@lakelive.info.
