As oil from the destroyed Deepwater Horizon platform begins to hit Gulf Coast sands, one would have to assume that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is rethinking his recent proposal to grant new offshore oil drilling leases for the waters off Santa Barbara, and then use those revenues to fund California’s state parks. Now that the Gulf spill is galvanizing public opinion away from new offshore oil drilling, the governor is left without even a bad idea for funding parks. (photo of Malibu Creek State Park by Tobin Fricke)

Although the plan to grant new leases to Texas-based PXP was shot down several times during the last legislative session, it keeps coming back. The governor’s tying it to state parks is only the latest ploy to get voters to swallow this bitter pill. Audubon California has long fought attempts to endanger coastline habitats with new offshore oil drilling. So we weren’t about to accept this trade-off. Instead, we have joined a broad coalition of parks supporters to advance an initiative for the November ballot that would create a dependable funding stream for state parks. Instead of making us more open to offshore oil drilling, the governor's proposal has only served to entrench our feelings about both offshore oil drilling and funding for state parks.