We have all witnessed the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico that is still unfolding. Lives lost, an oil spill with no end in sight, oiled wildlife dying, ruined lives and ongoing worry of how far this massive spill will spread.
On May 3, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger withdrew his earlier support for the first new offshore oil drilling in California in 41 years – the controversial Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) deal. Even before I announced I was a candidate for the State Assembly, I was leading the fight to stop this proposal which would’ve drilled up to 30 new wells just three miles off our shore. The Governor’s announcement was more proof that this project was the wrong direction for California.
My primary opponent, Das Williams, supports the PXP proposal. In fact, he has publicly stated that the reason he decided to run against me, after publicly stating that he was supporting me, was because I would not support this new oil drilling in state waters.
As the Director of the California Coastal Protection Network (CCPN), I refused to support this proposal from the beginning. Given that the PXP proposal was negotiated by the Environmental Defense Center, an organization I deeply respect and have worked closely with over many years, it was politically difficult not to support their efforts here.
However, I carefully studied the proposal and informed EDC as early as June of 2008 that I could not support it. I opposed it for the following reasons:
Problems with the Structure and Content of the Agreement:
Lack of Transparency and Requirement to Lobby for PXP: The proposal involved a confidential agreement between three environmental groups and PXP, a Texas-based oil company. It was not made available for public, governmental, or legislative review.
I believed that the agreement should have been made public and provided to regulators and legislators and other environmental groups that were considering support or opposition and that the all financial arrangements between the EDC and PXP should have been disclosed upfront. I requested that the agreement be made public but the request was denied.
Lack of Enforceability of Purported Benefits:
Given my years of working with EDC in opposing offshore oil drilling at the federal and state level, I conducted independent research on the enforceability of the purported benefits of the project. My legal research concurred with the assessment of State Lands legal counsel and the State Attorney General that the purported benefits of the project (end dates, land donations, etc.) were unenforceable by the State. The project was denied on that basis by the State Lands Commission in January 2009. On May 18, State Lands Commission staff ruled the subsequent revised deal once again unenforceable. For that memorandum, go here.
Precedent-Setting Reversal of Statewide Ban on New Drilling in State Waters:
I was and remain extremely concerned about the precedent that is set by approving the first new offshore oil lease in State waters in 41 years.
Despite the best of intentions of the EDC and the two other groups supporting it, this proposal reverses longstanding California environmental policy against new drilling in state waters.
This concern has been confirmed by the federal government’s consideration of three new federal lease sales stretching from La Jolla to Mendocino, the Venoco Paredon Initiative in Carpinteria, the Parsky Commission’s recommendation that new oil drilling along the California coast be approved in order to provide additional revenue to the state, and legislation by Assemblymember Chuck DeVore that would create a new commission to approve new offshore oil leases in all of California state waters under an expedited process.
The PXP deal would’ve extended the useful life of a nearly depleted project by many years by allowing new drilling into state waters with massive throughput of oil, endangering our own coastal economy and ecosystem. Recent events in the Gulf have shown us that offshore drilling is unsafe even using advanced technology.
For more opinions, go here , here and here.
“I will say this much about Susan Jordan, she went with her conscience on the PXP deal. While all involved respect the efforts of the Santa Barbara community to work to end offshore drilling by allowing PXP a new short-term lease, Ms. Jordan and Pedro Nava understood that the end dates were statutorily not enforceable and represented a serious negative precedent of allowing new drilling in the state coastal sanctuary.
“People should understand she stood up for the legal and environmental rights for the residents of Santa Barbara despite how it would affect her run for office. We need more politicians who stand by their personal convictions, especially when the Attorney General and State Lands Commission publicly document the many reasons to follow her wisdom.”
— Jack Eidt, Director, Wild Heritage Planners
