Calif. Rejects Bid For New Oil Drilling

State Panel Nixes Plan Agreed To On Private Terms By Oil Company, Environmentalist Groups

(AP)  The State Lands Commission on Thursday rejected a proposal that could have led to the first new oil drilling project off the California coast in 40 years.

The panel voted 2-1 against Plains Exploration & Production Co.'s request for approval of its bid to expand drilling off Platform Irene in the Santa Barbara Channel. Commission Executive Officer Paul Thayer said the project is effectively dead unless the oil company takes it to court or reapplies to the commission with a new proposal.

The proposal, which would have been worth billions of dollars, was announced last year with a landmark alliance between longtime anti-oil environmentalists and the oil company. The environmental groups signed a confidential agreement to lobby for the deal in exchange for a raft of promises from the Houston-based company, including billions in revenue for the state, thousands of acres of land and a commitment to end its local drilling by 2022.

"It's done. It's over," said Linda Krop, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the Environmental Defense Center, Get Oil Out! and the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County. "I'm going to be standing on our coast in nine years looking at these platforms and they're still going to be operating."

The commission's chairman, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, voted against the proposal as did state Controller John Chiang, while Tom Sheehy, who represented state finance director Michael Genest, voted to approve the lease.

Garamendi said he determined the application was not in the best interests of the state.

"I'm not convinced the main benefit of this bargain is achievable and enforceable," he said.

The packed meeting was sharply divided, with supporters largely from Santa Barbara County arguing in favor of approving a project they said would end drilling in their area, benefit the region and help the cash-strapped state. Opponents who had come from elsewhere in the state, however, argued the plan was shortsighted.

"Our coast frankly is in your hands," said Sara Wan, who is on the Coastal Commission but said she was only speaking as a resident. "Please do not allow it to be destroyed."

While the proposal has enjoyed unprecedented support from about 25 environmental organizations statewide, lawmakers from California to Washington, D.C., recently challenged the plan. Many worried the proposal could invite more offshore drilling along the California coast and undermine efforts to reinstate a federal drilling moratorium that was lifted by the Bush administration.

Garamendi has said he has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other members of the California congressional delegation who also expressed concern that approving a drilling proposal could undercut their efforts to reintroduce the federal moratorium.

Others such as Chiang raised concerns that the agreement between the environmentalists and oil company is confidential and the public had not been able to scrutinize the documents. PXP representatives relented at the meeting, saying they would be open to releasing the documents.

Supporters, including Rep. Lois Capps, a Democrat who represents Santa Barbara, have argued that the unique proposal would end drilling in Santa Barbara County and would not lead to more drilling statewide. Others such as Krop warned that if the project was not approved, the state would lose the many benefits the groups negotiated.

The commission's staff recommended rejection, saying there was no guarantee that the company, known as PXP, would shut down operations. The staff's finding prompted two major environmental backers of the plan - the Sierra Club and the Planning and Conservation League - to send a letter to the commission this week saying their support was contingent on the terms being fully enforced.

The vote came the day after the 40th anniversary of a massive oil spill off Santa Barbara that coated miles of beaches with oil and killed dolphins, seals and thousands of birds. The spill helped lead to the Clean Water Act and a moratorium on offshore drilling, galvanizing the modern environmental movement.

Plains Exploration has operations in California, Texas, Louisiana and Gulf of Mexico.

[dannyeller]

This is a good example of why I left California never to return. Let Mexico have em. No wonder both families and businesses are leaving the State in groves.

Too bad. One day while sitting around shivering in their communes wondering what ever happened to Man-made Global Warming and reminiscing on the good old days of being able to go were they wanted when they wanted, with the grocery stores full of everything and their having money in their pocket to buy it, maybe then they''ll come to their senses.

But probably not.

[ddaryl1]

UI applaud California.. anything but oil.. no matter the cost. We could have weened 20% of this nation off of oil with the Billions wasted on the aar in Iraq and fool hearty tax breaks fo rth eoil companies that broke every profit record in the book.

I''d rahter suffer without oil then to continue a path that leads to destruction of land and destruction of huan life in overseas wars...

[tincup356]

Thank goodness, there are some people who think farther ahead than their next fill-up. Kudos to the State Land Commission.

Posted by mtmaid at 06:43 AM : Jan 30, 2009....yeah next time they need to get somewhere they better hope they can fill up.....unless they have invented a way to make their cars go on the endless supply of methane gasses that come out of their mouths.

[tincup356]

Don''''t walk the beaches of Texas barefoot unless you want your feet covered in tar. California is smart to realize its beaches are far more valuable in tourist dollars than all the oil close to its shores.

Oil companies already have leases on so much unexploited land that combined it is larger than New Jersey.

Posted by yongamerica at 07:31 AM : Jan 30, 2009..........that is total BS,,,,,,who ever believes this is very closed minded......I''ve walked miles of Texas beaches .....your assumption of the sand covered in tar like oil deposits is dead wrong...I''ll bet you have never been to Texas.

[tincup356]

Not too long ago somebody drilled from Kuwait with a new type of drilling that allowed them to get oil under Iraq. Saddam got mad and called them dogs and immediately invaded for stealing his oil.

If California doesn''''t want revenue and allow the rigs within their jurisdiction...somebody will put the rigs just out of their jurisdiction and still get the oil. Personally I''''m praying auto makers decide to cease making vehicles to sell in California due to California''''s silly environmental laws. Maybe after a mass exodus California would have to wake up and smell reality, Bankruptcy.

Posted by Beach671 at 12:21 AM : Jan 31, 2009................Directional or whipstock drilling as it is called ..Is nothing new....it has been around for decades. Texas and Oklahome went through years of court battles where drilling had been done in Texas and Oklahoma,,,where they were drilling into each others state from the other, under the red river.But it isnt like they are drilling in one place and getting oil miles over in another territory....because of depth ability and severity of the drift of the well.About a mile is as far as you can whipstock.

[tincup356]

You all are complete MORONS. You see the world as the simpletons you are.
Drilling for oil is a DIRTY business. Perhaps they do NOT want oil
washing up on their coastline. Perhaps they are tired of breathing
dirty air and want to make a change.

Posted by cbs3200 at 12:13 PM : Jan 31, 2009,,,,,, what kind of transportation gets you around?

[tincup356]

California has more cars on the roads than any other state,,,that means they consume more gasoline than other states.....so they cannot help supply what they use more of than any other state? if we are running short exploration here at home is better than relying more and more on the middle east oil.Why support their oilfields when we have our own and huge untapped areas?when we drill for oil here ,,,we create jobs here.If California wants to go back to horses and buggies FINE with me.But how much intelligence can you really expect from a state full of people who build houses on the sides of mountains, and on top of fault lines?Kinda strange how all the disasters that hit California ...come from the same mother nature that they are always trying to protect through being so green.

[sass30617]

I think we should give California what they ask for.
No oil, cleaner gas for cars, smaller cars and no large trucks for shipping. Also let them have cleaner air standards/rules. If thats what they want. Why shouldn''t they git it, if they are doing the work for it. They are almost broke now. They are low on electricity, and water. Let them find their way as they see fit. They like smoking dope, let them, AS long as the us tax dallars flow from California, and none to it. Let them build their world, at long as they use their money!!! In my state we have the federal government telling us what to do about this and that and no money to pay for it. I know many of small business folks that are not doing anything at all with California anymore because of their rules and regs, as well as the cost that goes with it. If they want to be different, who cares, As long as they pay for it. NOT US.

[centerfall94]

Everything bad that happens starts in California.

Posted by dongo1955 at 07:23 AM : Jan 31, 2009

Oh, I dunno. I think Bush was born in Texas. And the Witch of Wasilla was born in Alaska. Where were you born? Oklahoma?

[centerfall94]

The State of California: Not giving a sh*t what the neocons think since 2006.

Way to go CA!

[jlagat]

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Posted by dongo1955 at 07:23 AM : Jan 31, 2009
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Posted by zokin at 02:28 AM : Jan 31, 2009
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Posted by clathrate at 10:19 PM : Jan 30, 2009
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Posted by downsteamJm at 08:14 PM : Jan 30, 2009
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The State of California: Not giving a sh*t what the rest of America thinks since 1850.

[W.W. Terry]

Dollars you spend on overseas oil comes back to continue buying up your country by Arabs and other people who hate you, you stupid idiots. But then you vote for morons like strech-face Nancy Petosie. Ciao! wwterry

[beach671]

Not too long ago somebody drilled from Kuwait with a new type of drilling that allowed them to get oil under Iraq. Saddam got mad and called them dogs and immediately invaded for stealing his oil.

If California doesn''t want revenue and allow the rigs within their jurisdiction...somebody will put the rigs just out of their jurisdiction and still get the oil. Personally I''m praying auto makers decide to cease making vehicles to sell in California due to California''s silly environmental laws. Maybe after a mass exodus California would have to wake up and smell reality, Bankruptcy.

[clathrate]

I guess California isn''t interested in solving their perennial budget problems.

Oh well, I guess it''s another big score for the NIMBY morons.

[mdalerwill]

Posted by Yongamerica at 06:28 PM : Jan 30, 2009

To be fair, we also had a Democrat governor who spent his way through the revenues from the dotcom boom. And to take a fair portion of the credit ourselves, we passed too many propositions. $5 billion here, $10 billion there....it adds up.

[mdalerwill]

I suspect most non-Californian are unaware that when the federal government collects certain revenues on behalf of the states or provides some kind of in-lieu payment for federal action that decreases state revenues, the money is frequently redistributed with an eye toward need rather than origin. That means that a handful of states, including California, see a portion of their revenues distributed *to other states*. It would be very interesting to see who squealed the most if those states got back *all* their revenue. I wonder how many California bashers are driving around on roads and sending their children to schools partially paid for by Californian tax dollars. Perhaps it''s time we sent a bill.

[yongamerica]

Califronia''s fisheries and pristine coastal waters far out value any oil off its shores. Because of the ocean currents along California''s coast line, one small mistake on an oil platform would result in hundreds of miles of unrecoverable catastrophic damages to California''s oceanic ecosystem. The results of the Exxon Valdez are still lingering in Alaska, and the damages from that small accident (just a small ship load of oil) are still being felt both on the shores and in the courts.

Oil companies already have enough leases on oil claims that it makes up more than the size of New Jersey. Drilling oil on the Shores of California won''t solve its short term financial woes; but butter government will.

Arnold and his Republican ways have taken one of this country''s most economically productive states and bankrupt it with poor tax management and indiscriminate wasteful practices of its bountiful agricultural and ecological resources in order to feed corporate greed.

Arnold, The Terminator, your government policies are exterminating everything that makes California wonderful. Please reprogram that chip you call a brain.

[whitemale08]

As long as Wall Street Republicans insist on oil being sold on the ''open markets'' for British ''free trade'' nonsense then California must not waste it''s precious resources for the sake of ''globalization''.

Bury the already dead British financial empire of ''globalization'' then maybe we can drill for some American oil and set a ''sovereign price'' and sell it to other ''sovereign nation-states'' as part of ''fair trade'' long term stable contracts.

[andrew0120]

WOW, For a state that is going bankrupt and crying to the federal gov''t to deny Billions in tax revenue is rediculous. People need to get over themselves and think realistically. Alternative energy technology are not cost effective right now. Solar panels take 25years to recoup the cost in savings. However, solar panels wear out after about 15 years. At the current cost of energy, it will never be worth the money. The people of california will be the first to be crying when the price of energy goes back up. If they had thought things through as oppose to listening to environmentalists, they would have seen that this would have been part of the solution to their energy and budget problems. Good luck california

[mdalerwill]

Lived there and left, plastic, me-centered, and arrogant.
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Posted by CARJENBE at 08:51 AM : Jan 30, 2009

Yeah, and we can trust your judgment because you personally know all 36+ million of us. Do us all a favor and don''t come back.