Capps opposing more offshore oil drilling

Local Congresswoman Lois Capps (CA-24) is sounding off in Washington D.C. about a bill that she says could expand offshore oil and gas drilling in sites that would include waters off the California coast. Capps calls the bill “destructive.”

In a speech on the floor of Congress, Capps said the bill would be similar to past bills that have failed. She urged ideas that would be in line with new energy solutions.

“Nearly 85 percent of the offshore acreage under lease by the oil industry is not producing,” said Capps. “Instead of recycling bad ideas and expanding oil in areas where voters do not want it, we should be working on a responsible clean energy policy for the 21st century. This bill is just more of the same dirty policies of the past.”

Capps recalled how the waters off the Santa Barbara County coast were blackened in 1969 with a massive oil platform blowout that was devastating to the beaches and marine environment. She has consistently opposed oil drilling expansion while serving in Congress.

“The so-called Offshore Energy and Jobs Act is nothing more than another old idea that will not become law,” Capps said about the Offshore energy and Jobs Act (HR 2231). “I’m also particularly dismayed that the bill explicitly targets the Central Coast for expanded drilling, despite the fact that local residents have repeatedly made it clear that they don’t want it.”