Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 11, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Salazar puts expanded offshore drilling on hold
The
Editorial: Drought trend needs a state plan
The
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Salazar puts expanded offshore drilling on hold
The Interior secretary says a 'headlong rush' by Bush officials to open new areas to exploration 'torpedoed renewable energy.'
The
By Jim Tankersley
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration put the brakes on a push to expand oil and gas drilling off
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he will extend public comments for six months on a last-minute proposal by the Bush administration to open swaths of the
He also ordered Interior staff to compile data on the potential benefits from oil, gas and renewable development offshore and pledged public hearings on drilling, including one to be held on the West Coast.
Salazar also said the department would finalize guidelines for developing wind and other renewable energy development, which Bush officials did not complete before leaving office.
Salazar called the Bush drilling plan a "headlong rush" based on bad information and tilted toward "old energy."
"The previous administration," he added, "was so intent on opening additional areas for drilling offshore that it torpedoed renewable energy."
Salazar offered measured praise for expanded drilling as part of a broad energy package, and he promised oil and gas companies a role in the review process.
He gave no indication that President Obama is considering reinstituting the ban on offshore drilling that President Bush lifted last year amid soaring gasoline prices and wide public support for domestic oil exploration.
Still, energy industry groups accused Salazar of stalling and keeping a potential oil bonanza from the American public.
"In these tough economic times, Salazar's delay does a disservice to all Americans," the president of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack N. Gerard, said in a statement. "We should be moving as quickly as possible to develop more of our own oil and natural gas to benefit all Americans."
In a study to be released later this month by the American Energy Alliance, a free-market energy think tank, Louisiana State University business professor Joseph Mason estimates that tapping an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from coastal areas could net the United States $8.7 trillion and create 1.2 million jobs over the next 30 years.
Environmentalists say any benefits are outweighed by the risks drilling poses to marine life and coastal communities, including the chance of an oil spill devastating the multi-billion-dollar fishing and tourism industries. Several environmental groups praised Salazar's decision, but others pressed him to go further.
"Without a new [drilling] moratorium, our coasts and oceans will be more vulnerable to oil damage than they have been since the Exxon Valdez spill," said Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director for Oceana, an environmental group dedicated to marine protection.
Interior wasn't the only agency freezing a controversial Bush decision Tuesday: The Environmental Protection Agency announced it will delay implementation of an air pollution rule that critics said would have allowed some industrial plants to emit more smog and soot.#
Editorial: Drought trend needs a state plan
The
Even though we're getting rain this week (it always rains on the farm show), it is a literal drop in the desert in compared with the water problems looming in the
This is already shaping up as a very dry year, maybe close to a record, the way 2006-07 was. Farmers and other water users already have been told to expect sharply curtailed water deliveries of surface water from both state and federal sources. The California Department of Water Resources reports the
Politics and policies, however, are combining to make this situation even worse. The policies need adjustment, or this dry year will create a huge amount of hardship in
The San Joaquin River lawsuit settlement between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Resources Defense Council was already scheduled to cost water users anywhere from 250,000 to 400,000 acre-feet of water, depending on the supplies. Those effects are still a couple of years from taking place, even if a settlement agreement is reached.
More water is also being used for environmental recovery in the delta. Consequently, some water districts in
That's putting even a greater squeeze on the entire system.
If you have traveled to the Bay Area along Highway 152 and seen the San Luis Reservoir, you have witnessed part of the effect of this contraction of water. The San Luis collects water from north of the delta and stores it for both urban and agricultural uses. Some water officials doubt they will be able to get the reservoir more than half-filled this year.
With less snowpack runoff and more surface water going to places other than agriculture, farmers will be forced to pump more groundwater, or decided not to farm. A surprising number of farmers are already coming to that decision. It's distressing to have to report this during World Ag Expo 2009, but a lot of conversation at the International Agri-Center this year must revolve around how some growers will stay in business.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year declared a drought emergency for
One thing that the governor's intervention might do would be to allow some suspension of policies and practices that would make this situation more flexible, especially for growers. For instance, the idea of turning off the pumps that put fresh water into the delta estuary would be a welcome mitigation.
Beyond that, however,
Every interest in
This will be a difficult water year to navigate through for all interests, including urban. Let it serve as motivation for a comprehensive plan that has enough flexibility to get the state through all years, wet and dry.#
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20090211/OPINION01/902110313/1014/OPINION
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