Schwarzenegger criticized for stand on offshore oil drilling
Steve Chawkins, LA Times, 6/1/09
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/oil-drilling.html
The State Lands Commission lashed out today at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to reverse its rejection of the first new oil drilling in California waters since 1969.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, the three-member panel's chair, called the governor's proposal "a naked power-grab." At a contentious hearing in Santa Monica, the commission passed a resolution urging legislators not to go along with Schwarzenegger's plan, which would revive a drilling project off the Santa Barbara County coast that the commission killed in January.
At issue is a complex arrangement crafted by Plains Exploration & Production, a Texas oil company, and a coalition of Santa Barbara environmental groups. Under that deal, Plains would have drilled into state waters from a platform it owns in federal waters, just beyond the three-mile limit. In return, the company would have agreed to shut down that platform and three others by 2022, as well as donate 4,000 acres of land for public use.
Even the environmentalists who supported the deal criticized the governor, who wants legislative approval allowing his finance director to override the commission's decision and approve the project.
Linda Krop, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Center, told the panel her group has "grave concerns'' about the precedent that could be set in bypassing the board charged with making decisions about offshore drilling and other sensitive environmental issues.
Garamendi and state Controller John Chiang voted in favor of the resolution opposing Schwarzenegger.
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