Kangaroo Rats? Think About Offshore Oil Drilling

Recently, the Angry Poodle Barbecue delivered an opinion piece criticizing U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. In addition to letting us know that he is prowling the neighborhood of Secretary Zinke’s mother-in-law, writer Nick Welsh expressed his concern over the kangaroo rats that inhabit the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Welsh explained that the Department of the Interior, which Ryan Zinke heads, has approved a single oil well in the Carrizo Plain Monument. That single oil well will apparently be the doom of the kangaroo rat.

I doubt that a single oil well will exterminate the kangaroo rats in the Carrizo Plain. Welsh seems to think so. He believes that science backs up his assertion. I doubt it does.

But the Carrizo Plain issue is small potatoes compared to the possible expansion of oil and gas development in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of Santa Barbara County. Recently, the Department of the Interior submitted a proposal to expand oil and gas development in the OCS. The vast oil deposits located offshore of Santa Barbara may soon be available for development. Since the spring of 2017, the public has had the opportunity to submit comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) concerning the development of the OCS. A final report on the plan will be available sometime this fall, with a decision coming sometime in 2019.

Like Welsh and the kangaroo rats, some people are predicting Armageddon if the oil and gas deposits located in the OCS are exploited. They point out the disasters of the 1969 spill and the 2015 Refugio pipeline rupture as examples of what can go wrong with drilling for oil. Of course, those two disasters were caused by the stupidity of two Democrat administrations (Lyndon Johnson in 1969 and Obama in 2015). President Trump and Secretary Zinke will make sure oil and gas development in the OCS is done safely and cleanly. If you don’t believe that fact, then submit your concerns in the form of a properly peer-reviewed document to the BOEM, and agree to be questioned by the staff of BOEM.

The big problem for the people who oppose the development of OCS and Carrizo Plain oil reserves is the fact that the majority of people in the State of California support the development. I can make that claim because there are over 25 million gasoline and diesel powered motor vehicles registered in this state. Every day, Californians purchase over 45 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. Californians would never be such hypocrites to expect other states and countries to produce the fuel the people of this state consume. Californians have also rejected the alternatives to gasoline and diesel powered motor vehicles, such as battery-powered cars, which comprise less than one percent of registered vehicles in the state. Battery-powered cars have been available in taxpayer subsidized, mass produced quantities for close to 10 years.

President Trump has proposed an America First energy policy. The president wants to end this country’s dependence on foreign oil, which led us into the First Gulf War. I support the president’s energy policy, and I will defend Ryan Zinke if he supports the president.