Lt. Governor Garamendi Urges U.S. Interior Department to Reject Off-Shore Oil Drilling in California

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, chair of the California State Lands Commission and a former Deputy Interior Secretary under President Bill Clinton, today testified before U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar against further off-shore oil drilling at the Interior Departments regional outer continental shelf hearing in San Francisco.

Today, I call on the Department of Interior and President Obama to follow the lead of California and reject additional oil drilling off the California coast, Lieutenant Governor Garamendi said at the hearing. I invite the federal government to enter into a partnership with California in a policy that fosters our ocean resources rather than threatens them with the harm that inevitably comes from new offshore oil development. The billilons of dollars that new drilling would require should be invested in renewable green energy sources such as geothermal, solar, wind and bio fuels.

Garamendi, a former state legislator who also sits on the California Ocean Protection Council, encouraged President Barack Obamas administration to reject an offshore oil lease proposal crafted in the final months of the presidency of George W. Bush. The Lieutenant Governor also spoke on behalf of the California State Lands Commission, which oversees oil leases in California waters. While the state controls waters up to three miles off the California coast, the federal government has jurisdiction beyond three miles.

As the steward of Californias offshore waters, the State Lands Commission is charged with balancing the uses of these waters with the need to protect the ocean, Lt. Governor Garamendi added. Since 1969, the Commission has not approved new oil and gas leases in state waters. The State Lands Commission calls on the federal government to join with it in this policy.

A letter from Lt. Governor Garamendi to Secretary Salazar is here: http://www.ltg.ca.gov/images/garamendiletterinteriorsecretarysalazaroildrilli...

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• interior
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• salazar
• offf
• shore
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• drilling
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• outer
• continental
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• california

[demorra]

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