As members of the State Lands Commission, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and state Controller John Chiang today officially urged lawmakers to reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to plug part of the budget hole with proceeds from offshore oil drilling.
The three-member commission earlier this year rejected a similar plan to allow Plains Exploration & Production Co. to slant drill into California waters off the Santa Barbara coast, with Garamendi and Chiang voting against the Tranquillon Ridge project and Department of Finance chief deputy director Tom Sheehy voting in favor. The company already drills in federal waters adjacent to California waters.
The lands commission has opposed new offshore oil leases since 1969, when a major oil spill occurred off the Santa Barbara coast. Some environmentalists supported the Tranquillon Ridge project earlier this year because they brokered a deal with Plains Exploration & Production to shut down other oil platforms in exchange. But other environmentalists disapproved of the new oil lease.
In his revised May budget, Schwarzenegger proposed allowing the Tranquillon Ridge oil lease in exchange for $1.8 billion over 14 years, including $100 million in 2009-10.
"This is a deliberate attempt to overturn the decision of this body, the State Lands Commission, a decision that was based on the finding that this proposal was not in the interests of the state," Garamendi said in a statement.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page responded: "Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal to use Tranquillon Ridge as a vehicle to end oil drilling off Santa Barbara's coast and bring new revenues into the state is a win-win that will benefit California now and will benefit the environment by speeding up the permanent removal of drilling platforms from the Santa Barbara coastline."
Photo: AP/Michael A. Mariant. Oil platform off the Santa Barbara coast.
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