House Democrats request California’s removal from offshore oil plan

A letter sent Thursday to Interior Secretary Zinke cites the $42 billion value of state’s coastal economy, one Democrats say would be imperiled by expanded offshore oil drilling.|

Congressmen Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, joined by 34 other California House Democrats, sent a letter Thursday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to remove California from a new offshore oil drilling plan covering most of the nation’s coastal waters.

The letter, citing a California “ocean economy” worth nearly $42 billion, called on Zinke to exempt the Golden State under the same criteria Zinke used to abruptly remove Florida from the sweeping plan based on President Donald Trump’s “America First” energy strategy.

Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, unveiled the drilling plan covering every ocean that touches the United States on Jan. 4. Five days later - after flying to Florida for a meeting with Republican Gov. Rick Scott - he announced on Twitter the removal of the Sunshine State sought by Scott.

“I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique, and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,” Zinke said in his tweet.

The letter, spearheaded by Huffman of San Rafael and Reps. Ted Lieu of Torrance and Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, asked Zinke to apply the same standard to California “given the high level of local political opposition and the reliance of California coastal communities on tourism.”

The state’s “ocean economy and the sector dependent on tourism and recreation are both larger than those of Florida,” the letter said.

Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, whose district covers the county’s coast, said the economic mainstays are tourism and fishing, “both endangered by offshore oil drilling.”

“There’s no such thing as safe oil drilling,” she said.

Zinke’s plan calls for ?47 potential sales of oil drilling rights from 2019-2024, with six along the California coast.

The plan drew immediate protests from California officials, including Gov. Jerry Brown and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.

At least 11 governors have reportedly asked the Interior Department to leave their states out of any new leasing plan.

Exempting only Florida from the plan “lacks rational basis and is arbitrary and capricious,” the letter said, adding that if other states do not get the same consideration the plan “appears to be a purely politically motivated decision.”

Huffman said in an interview that Zinke’s proposed plan is “on very shaky legal ground” but cannot be challenged in court until it is finalized, a step expected in 2019.

“I hope there is a response (to the letter),” Huffman said. “Zinke has said he wants to listen to the elected voices from these states and we gave him an earful.”

California’s Republican House members were asked to sign the letter but “none of them joined us,” Huffman said.

On the North Coast, two national marine sanctuaries protect an area of the Pacific Ocean nearly as large as Sonoma and Mendocino counties combined from oil drilling, but the Trump administration has under wraps a plan that could shrink the sanctuaries by more than half their size.

The region’s estimated oil reserves amount to just 5 percent of the nation’s untapped offshore oil, and energy experts say that current low crude oil prices would discourage development of an area regarded as an oil frontier.

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