Support for Offshore Oil Production

We strongly support continued oil development along the California coast. This must be considered a number one priority for this state. There should be no limit to offshore drilling.

We oppose the efforts of Democrats such as State Senator Jackson and Senator Mike McGuire to stop the Tranquillon Ridge program with Senate Bill 788. This bill, if passed, will kill thousands of jobs for those who need work and eliminate taxes for social programs.

Polls show that the majority of Californians support development of our national oil reserves here in California, on and off shore.

We oppose using our already stressed tax dollars to buy back oil company leases no matter what they cost.

Santa Barbara County, California, and the U.S of A have benefited greatly from past oil production, through well-paid jobs, royalties, and civic projects.

We strongly support developing American oil now and in the future rather than to continue to increase the amount being imported from Arab and other foreign nations with the continued loss of jobs and oil royalties in the U.S. Our very extensive offshore oil reserves will be needed in the future, and planning for their use must begin now.

The oil industry is among the safest and best regulated industries in this country. New technology will insure that this record will continue in the future.

The efforts of the Santa Barbara Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Get Oil Out (GOO) to smear oil companies because of one incident in 1969 or the Refugio spill is irrational extremism. Such incidents should not be used to stop oil production, no more than a train wreck should end train travel.

Oil is a natural product of the earth, and as such it has existed along the coast for eons. When in the ocean water, either from natural seeps or from oil drilling, it is biodegradable and dissipates shortly after release, otherwise our beaches would be caked with tar. There is no proof that oil production or oil itself permanently harms the environment.

In a society that is so totally based on oil, as ours is, it is important to maintain an open attitude to its development and plan for future development of our off-shore reserves, such as the Tranquillon Ridge Project. It’s an increased resource with low risk.

The efforts by environmentalists and their liberal politicians like Senator Jackson to curtail American oil development is undermining the economy of California and is blatantly un-American. The State of California will have to raise our taxes to replace any lost oil revenues in order to continue to provide the same service levels if future oil production is curtailed by these actions. Sen. Jackson has a reputation for taxin’, and the EDC is her political supporter.

We need oil development on the California coast and anywhere else it is found, including the National Forests, ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), etc.

For these reasons we oppose the actions of Jackson and McGuire in pursuing SB 778.

Justin M. Ruhge is with Concerned Taxpayers I.N.C. in Lompoc.