Publisher’s Notebook

• Malibu Should Join Hands Against New Offshore Oil Drilling •

BY ANNE SOBLE

Concerned residents of Florida could not have been more prescient when they formed “Hands Across the Sands” earlier this year to give voice to citizen opposition to any new oil drilling off that state’s coast. Californians should follow their lead, whether they seek to use the same name or come up with a new one, and make certain there is no doubt in the mind of any elected official in this state that the citizens do not want to see any new offshore oil drilling here.

The Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Surfrider Foundation, and other like-minded organizations are part of the “Hands” effort, and would readily join ranks with anti-drilling groups in California. Similarly, local governments, including the City of Malibu, should be prodded by their constituents not to remain silent on this issue. They should decry the impact of the Deepwater Horizon debacle on the Gulf Coast and close ranks to prevent it here.

The oil rig collapse and ongoing flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is a serious threat to the entire Gulf environment and economy. A disaster of this magnitude shouldn’t have had to happen to open political minds to the risks that oil drilling presents to all coastal communities and fragile environments. But little else can counter that oil company lobbyists keep election campaign coffers bulging. And they spend millions of dollars on slick television and print advertising that creates a false sense of drilling safety and environment impact.

Deepwater is the second major incident of its kind within a year. Off the coast of Australia’s Timor Sea, a similar explosion and fire occurred, and it took 50 days just to stop the oil flow. Now contaminated is one of world’s richest marine wildernesses. Dolphins, sea birds, turtles and other wildlife bore the brunt of this August 2009 disaster. As with Exxon Valdez, the adverse impact is far from over.

If it was not for members of the California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission, this coast would most likely have already seen  the approval of the first new oil drilling in four decades. The governor, who at first could see no farther than the financial benefits of drilling, now knows what the hidden costs really are. It took the devastation of up to a fourth of the nation’s coastline for a learning experience that others repeatedly warned could happen.

Instead of remaining locked in the nation’s outdated fossil fuels mentality, policymakers need to push for clean and renewable energy while pictures of dead marine life and oil impacted beaches assault the senses. One way to ensure that the pressure will remain after the media spotlight has moved onto the next crisis is for Californians to join hands under a banner proclaiming that they won’t be “gulfed,” and any elected officials who think otherwise should be voted out.