Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may still be in effect declaring “drill baby, drill” but it looks as if California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger may be foreshadowing the reaction of some politicos: “spill, baby spill” — as he revokes his once-vocal support of offshore drilling. Is this the opening salvo in some politicos inching away from supporting offshore drilling or, in some cases, running away from it?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today withdrew his support for a plan he championed to allow new offshore oil drilling off Santa Barbara County, citing the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Schwarzenegger, whose administration as recently as Friday defended the proposed Tranquillon Ridge offshore drilling project, said images of the spill in the Gulf changed his mind.
“All of you have seen, when you turn on the television, the devastation in the Gulf, and I’m sure that they also were assured that it was safe to drill,” he said at a news conference today. “I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fisherman out of work, the massive oil spill and oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem. That will not happen here in California, and this is why I am withdrawing my support for the T-Rridge project.”
His new stance all but guarantees the demise of the proposal by a Texas oil company to allow the first new drilling in state waters in 40 years.
The governor had previously argued that the state, which is currently facing a $20 billion budget shortfall, should approve the plan to raise as much as $100 million a year in new revenue.
The plan would allow Plains Exploration & Production Co. of Houston to use an existing oil platform in federal waters to drill just over the line in state waters. The plan included an agreement by Plains to shut down all operations in the area after 14 years.
Will Schwarzenegger’s disavowal be an isolated case — or are we just waiting for the other barbell to drop?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.