With the images of dead and injured birds from the recent oil spill at Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara fresh in our minds, Audubon California is stepping up its support of new legislation which will close the last remaining loopholes allowing offshore oil drilling in California waters. Senate Bill 788, authored by State Senator Mike McGuire, was approved by the State Senate a couple weeks ago, and is now moving through the State Assembly.

We're particularly pleased that this bill has been incorporated into the package of Senate bills that address climate change. This makes perfect sense to us. If our goal is to set ambitious goals for reducing petroleum use, it stands to reason that we should close off forever this particular source of oil.

The California Coastal Sanctuary Act of 1994 prohibits the state from entering into new oil and gas extraction leases in specified state waters where it would damage to the marine environment.  Despite this language, the Act does, however, allow for wells in adjacent federal lands to extract oil deposits contained in state tidelands if the State Lands Commission determines that the lease for these wells is “in the best interest of the state.” The 1994 Act also enables new oil drilling leases in Marine Protected Areas (MPA). MPAs have stringent criteria to protect and sustain marine ecosystems and marine life populations.

Bird species that live in or near MPAs depend on the protection this designation provides. Allowing oil and gas extraction to occur in these areas goes against the very nature of the MPA designation and does irreparable harm to the marine life in these protected areas.

With the recent oil spill in Santa Barbara affecting the coastline and wildlife that call the coast home, SB 788 is exceptionally pertinent. The damage caused by oil drilling in and near the ocean is felt by wildlife, including bird species, for years after spills. This bill would ensure the protection of not only the ocean and marine wildlife into the future, but also in protecting the marine bird species that frequent these shorelines and depend on the health of these environments.

(photo by Kenneth Song/Santa Barbara News-Press/ZUMA Wire)