For years now the proposed expanded offshore oil drilling project along Santa Barbara’s coast that Governor Schwarzenegger has been trying to get passed (aka Tranquillion Ridge) has been a controversial and divisive issue even amongst the environmental community. I’ll spare you the details, but the important consideration here is that the environmental movement has long taken a backseat to the pro-corporate mentality brought to you by Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr.
Last month, President Obama proposed one of the largest expansions of domestic offshore oil drilling in American history, much to the dismay of people who still remember the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill that originally launched the environmental movement.
As of last week however, things have dramatically changed. Thanks to the ongoing Gulf of Mexico catastrophe brought to you by BP and Halliburton (Dick Cheney’s old company), oil is contaminating the coastal regions of the South East. The oil is spreading at a pace so quick, that it’s expected to hit the Florida keys soon, and may actually end up reaching around the East Coast.
All of this could have been avoided if oil companies had just followed more of those annoying “anti-business” safety regulations that environmentalists are always complaining about. But it’s like conservatives and oil companies have been saying, “drill, baby, drill!” and “the technology is safe.” Tell that to the 11 people who died when the pipeline burst or the effects on the wildlife that will make the Exxon Valdez incident seem like someone knocking over a bottle of Crisco into a pond.
The only good news thus far is that it’s quashed Schwarzenegger’s ambitions for passing the Tranquillion Ridge project:
“I think that first of all, it’s clear that we have to make up that $100 million a year that we (would) make from that,” he said. “But if I have a choice between the $100 million and what I see in the Gulf of Mexico, I’d rather just figure out how to make up for that $100 million.”
That’s great. It only took a national disaster of enormous proportions, that could have been avoided, that us pesky environmentalists have been warning about to realize offshore oil drilling isn’t as safe as Big Oil wants you to think. Yes, we’ll need to find another $100 million, but that’s better than risking another oil spill in Santa Barbara that could devastate the environment further. Why do we only think of things as having monetary value?
