[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 6, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S646-S647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS DRILLING

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to speak in opposition to 
President Trump's proposal to open all offshore waters in the country 
to oil drilling.
  This proposal has been met with outrage from every corner, as my 
colleagues are making clear here on the Senate floor today.
  I would like to take a minute to remind everyone of what is at stake.
  Before the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez spills, Santa Barbara, 
CA, experienced the worst oil spill in U.S history.
  In 1969, an offshore oil rig in Federal waters spilled more than 3 
million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.
  The environmental disaster killed thousands of marine mammals and 
birds. Our local beaches were coated by a thick layer of oil. Tourists 
were turned away, and commercial fishing operations were shut down, 
hurting the local economy.
  After that spill, California decided that enough was enough. State 
agencies blocked all new offshore oil drilling in State waters up to 3 
miles from the shore. The State reinforced this ban with the California 
Coastal Sanctuary Act in 1994.
  Through a combination of local ordinances, congressional opposition, 
and moratoria imposed by Presidents from both parties, our State has 
also fought off any new drilling in Federal waters beyond 3 miles from 
the shore since 1984.
  The Trump administration has now proposed undoing our progress by 
opening all Federal waters, including the waters off California's 
coast, to new gas and oil drilling.
  If his proposal is allowed to go through, it would lead to the first 
new offshore oil drilling leases sold in the Pacific Ocean in more than 
30 years.
  So far, an exception has been made for Florida, hastily announced by 
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in response

[[Page S647]]

to concerns from Florida's Republican Governor.
  That is completely arbitrary and not acceptable.
  It is clear California also staunchly opposes this plan. According to 
the latest polling, nearly 70 percent of Californians oppose new 
drilling off our coast.
  Senator Harris and I, together with our colleagues in the House of 
Representatives, have repeatedly shared our concerns with Secretary 
Zinke.
  The Secretary has even received statements of opposition from 
California's Governor, senate, assembly, attorney general, coastal 
commission, fish and game commission, State lands commission, and more 
than two dozen counties and cities.
  So why are we not being given the same deference as Florida?
  Unlike this administration, California understands that offshore oil 
drilling belongs in the past. We are making smarter investments in 
clean energy and renewable sources. Our State is on target to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 
2050.
  The President's proposal would undermine that progress.
  The Trump administration's proposed six new lease sales off the 
California coast would lead to new oil rigs that would continue to 
produce oil for decades to come.
  That is well past the time we will need to have moved away from 
fossil fuels altogether.
  Even though California has fought off new Federal drilling for three 
decades, there are still 43 leases that remain active from Federal 
lease sales prior to 1984.
  In State waters, there are still nine active rigs that were built 
before the Santa Barbara oil spill.
  We are still dealing with the legacy of last century's drilling, but 
it is our responsibility to leave a better legacy for the next century.
  California won't allow new offshore oil rigs to create another 
generation of dirty carbon emissions and disastrous oil spills.
  California, along with our coastal State friends, has rejected 
President Trump's offshore drilling proposal.
  It is time to respect our local opposition and completely scrap this 
plan.

                          ____________________