Saved From Off-shore Oil Drilling

By Richard Charter
Published: June 2006

Imagine that just a mere handful of votes in the House of Representatives could decide the fate of virtually all of America’s most beloved beaches and coastal natural treasures.  That’s what actually happened in mid-May, as a late-night “floor fight” broke out in the House between corporate supporters of expanded offshore drilling and those intent on continuing 25 years of coastal protection. 

Oil wells at Summerland, CA. 1915.
Photo credit: G.H. Eldridge, NOAA library.

The battle was won, miraculously, by the narrowest of margins, in a frighteningly close vote of 217-203, and the coast was saved, for now.  At stake in this single vote was the entire US East Coast, the entire US West Coast, and the Gulf Coast and Panhandle of Florida.  Huge conglomerates like Dow Chemical, DuPont Plastics, Chevron, Shell, and the other Big Oil companies spent big bucks to try to kill decades of bipartisan, bicoastal, and bicameral protection for our coasts, and they very nearly prevailed.  We do know that they will be back to try again to try to trash our coastal protections, and soon. 

In late June, Tracy Congressman Richard Pombo, who chairs the House Resources Committee, is expected to once again make an effort to kill the offshore drilling moratorium, as part of what the Republican majority is calling their “energy week” in the House.  The oil industry and their servants in the Congress now fear that their window of opportunity to drill and pollute our most sensitive coastlines is likely to close after the November elections, so they are trying to grab all coastal waters now, while they can.  Only concerted and persistent action on the part of coastal advocates can save the coast now. 

Richard Charter and friends embarking on their 25-year odyssey
to protect our coastline from off-shore oil drilling.

Our nation’s founders set a lasting precedent of protecting America’s natural national treasures, but those treasures, and the precedent of protecting them, are in grave danger right now.  The next vote may not be one we win, and Acadia National Park, the Mendocino Coast, Santa Monica Bay, San Diego, North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and the Florida Gulf Coast could easily be lost forever, within the next thirty days.  Please call you local representative or Congressman and tell them how important it is to you that our coast remains free from off-shore oil drilling.