In 2013 the Los Angeles County SheriffÕs Department conducted a homeland security training drill at oil platform Eureka, off the coast between Catalina and Long Beach. (Photo by Sean Hiller/ Daily Breeze).
By MARTIN WISCKOL | [email protected] | Orange County Register
With the Trump administration moving toward offering new offshore leases for oil drilling for the first time since 1984, activists are increasingly rallying the public to oppose those plans — including three events planned for Huntington Beach in May.
“Huntington Beach is a symbolic location for drilling along the coast,” said Katherine Terrell, a co-sponsor of a surf-and-march event Sunday and owner of the Malibu-based bikini company Jeux De Vagues. “There’s a history of oil drilling there. And in Malibu and Santa Monica, we’re singing to the choir.
“We need to convince the Congress member in Huntington Beach that he needs to oppose it.”
That congressman, Republican Dana Rohrabacher, represents a district that reaches from Laguna Beach in the south to Seal Beach in the north. Rohrabacher reiterated his support for more offshore drilling during a Facebook town hall in February.
South Orange County GOP Rep. Mimi Walters has also supported opening new offshore leases for drilling.
More drilling?
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced in January plans to offer new leases in 90 percent of federal waters offshore of the West, East and Gulf coasts as well as Alaska. The move would create jobs and is part of “a new path for energy dominance in America,” he said.
But anti-drilling proponents says the threat of oil spills to California’s coastal economy and environment outweighs the need for more drilling.