Thompson Moves To Restore Drilling Ban

Congressman concerned with non-renewal of moratorium by Democratic Congress

Humboldt Sentinel
1/6/09
By Sentinel Staff

WASHINGTON -- The failure of the 110th Congress to maintain the moratorium against new off-shore oil drilling activities off the California coast has been met by a bill to restore the drilling ban on the first day of the 111th Congress today.

Congressman Mike Thompson (Dem – St. Helena) introduced the Northern California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act, which would permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties along Northern California’s outer continental shelf.

“For the economic and biological health of our country, it’s critical that we permanently protect this unique area from the environmental hazards of off-shore drilling,” Thompson stated in the first release of his sixth term in office. “Unfortunately in the last Congress drilling became a political drama, rather than a policy debate. My legislation is one aspect of a broader campaign to restore sensible, science based policy and ensure the health of our oceans for generations.”

The last session of Congress, controlled by the same Democrat majority Thompson is a member of, chose not to renew the moratorium on new off-shore drilling activities which had been in place since 1982. This would leave the North Coast susceptible to drilling in as little as three years, according to Thompson.

“Our coastline is home to one of the four most important upwellings in the world, which together support 20 percent of the ocean’s fish,” he stated. “Drilling on the North Coast doesn’t make sense, either from an economic standpoint or an environmental perspective. By permanently banning drilling, we can provide our coast with the protection it needs, regardless of who is in charge in Washington.”

Upwelling regions are coastal areas that support extremely abundant and productive marine life. This is because an upwelling brings cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the ocean depths that, when combined with sunlight, enhance seaweed and phytoplankton growth. The seaweed and phytoplankton provide energy for some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, including many of the world’s most important fisheries, such as the North Coast fisheries.

Drilling for gas and oil off the Northern Coast of California could cause serious harm to the unique and productive ecosystem and abundant marine life found off the coast, including the fish many local North Coast economies depend on, according to the Congressman.