California Commission Kills Offshore Oil Drilling Deal. By Eric Lindberg, Santa Barbara Daily Sound, January 30, 2009. "Despite a wide groundswell of support from anti-oil environmentalists, the State Lands Commission shot down a proposal yesterday that would have shuttered four oil rigs off the Santa Barbara coast in exchange for permission to drill new wells in state waters... Yesterday's meeting came one day after the anniversary of the 1969 blowout of Platform A. The two requested offshore leases would have been the first leases granted for drilling in state waters since the massive oil spill 40 years ago. The unusual deal, brokered by the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), Get Oil Out! and other local groups, involved a complex tradeoff. The project would have allowed Plains Exploration and Production to slant drill new wells from Platform Irene into an oil-rich area known as Tranquillon Ridge, off the coast of Lompoc... For the environmental groups involved in the deal, the specified end dates of oil production were the most appealing aspect. 'Without this agreement, these facilities can operate indefinitely,' Linda Krop, chief counsel for EDC, told the commissioners."
2009-02-01
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