The Carrizo Plains during a “superbloom” event.
–The Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, a bill that would safeguard public lands and wild rivers in the Los Padres National Forest and the Carrizo Plain National Monument, and would designate a 400-mile National Recreation Trail, was reintroduced by Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) this week. Carbajal’s district includes Paso Robles and all of San Luis Obispo County.
“Pragmatic policies like the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act make a real difference in the fight against climate change, give residents and visitors the opportunity to appreciate the great outdoors, and boosts our recreation economy, all while preserving the plant and animal life that call these public lands home,” said Congressman Carbajal.
Central Coast congressman wants to ban oil, gas drilling off California coast: It s time
Tribune (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Jan. 29 Congressman
Salud Carbajal introduced an ambitious new bill to the
U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday that would permanently ban new oil and gas drilling off the
Central Coast.
The California Clean Coast Act of 2021 was read to the House on the anniversary of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, which dumped an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean. At that time, it was the largest oil spill in
U.S. history.
The Central Coast has witnessed the devastation of oil spills first-hand, including the toll they take on our coastal communities, local economies, and fragile ocean ecosystems, Carbajal said in a news release Thursday. Fifty-two years and several oil spills later, we must pass this bill and permanently end new oil and gas development off our shore.
Focus Associated Press – December 17
President-elect Joe Biden this Thursday selected Michael S. Regan to serve as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Regan is a North Carolina regulator who made his name pursuing cleanups of industrial toxins and helping low-income and minority communities hit hardest by pollution. Regan led the negotiations in North Carolina that resulted in the cleanup of the Cape Fear River, which has been contaminated by PFAS industrial compounds from a chemical plant, and negotiated what North Carolina says was the largest cleanup agreement for toxic coal ash, with Duke Energy. Regan previously spent almost a decade at the EPA, including managing a national program for air pollution issues.
Posted by Press Release | Dec 16, 2020
BAKERSFIELD ― Conservation groups on Tuesday, Dec. 15, sued the Trump administration to reverse its approval of what would be the first new oil well and pipeline in Carrizo Plain National Monument since it was established in 2001.
The legal action also seeks to resolve the fate of other long-dormant wells and associated facilities that the Bureau of Land Management identified for possible removal in 2013.
“It’s appalling that it takes a lawsuit to protect our spectacular national monuments, but we’ll do whatever’s necessary,” said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Trump administration has flouted the law to appease polluting industries, decimate public lands and worsen the climate crisis. Thankfully this disastrous fracking frenzy is almost over.”