Because oil spills are particularly hazardous to birds and some of their most precious habitat, Audubon California has long been opposed to any new offshore oil drilling in California. We need to look no further than last week’s oil spill at Refugio State Beach, which dumped as much as 105,000 gallons of oil on the beach and into the waters near Santa Barbara, to see the toll that oil spills can take on birds, other wildlife, and habitat. While the Refugio spill was from an onshore pipeline, and not a well, it nonetheless shows the risk we take putting oil facilities so close to habitat.

And that’s why Audubon California has supported Assembly Bill 788, the California Coastal Protection Act, since it was introduced earlier this year. Authored by State Senator Mike McGuire and State Senator Hannah Beth, the bill seeks to forever protect California’s coast from new offshore oil development in state waters by closing a loophole in the Coastal Sanctuary Act that currently would allow the State Lands Commission to grant new leases for offshore oil and gas development.

Since the 1960s, California has intentionally resisted any new offshore oil development due to the unacceptably high risk. Despite this stated goal, loopholes exist in the law that would actually allow new offshore oil leases in some of California’s most precious marine habitats.

“One code section is all that stands between new offshore oil development and forever protecting our coast from drilling, Sen. McGuire said. “After all of the work that we have done to protect our coast and our environment, it’s unconscionable to think that there is a loophole that could lead to additional drilling in state water. It poses too great a risk.”

McGuire notes that California’s coastal economies contribute $40 billion annually, and about 500,000 jobs.

(Brown Pelican photo by John C. Bruckman.)