Issue Position: Environment - Defending Sensitive Areas from Oil and Gas Drilling

Issue Position

A key element of California's diverse economy is its unparalleled stretch of coastline. Indeed, it has been the economic value of the coast that has in great part spurred the efforts to end offshore oil and gas drilling in California. The Bush Administration has signaled its intent to reverse this trend by expressing support for drilling. In response to this, I have consistently joined many of my California colleagues in Congress in opposing efforts to conduct offshore oil and gas inventories and to open these areas to drilling.

I have also opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I am a cosponsor of the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act, which would preserve the Arctic coastal plain of ANWR in Alaska as wilderness. I opposed the inclusion of drilling in ANWR in the Energy Bill and continue to oppose including this important policy change in the budget reconciliation bill. Proponents of drilling who claim that pipelines in pristine wilderness areas are perfectly safe have been dealt a blow by the revelation of massive leakage and corrosion in BP's pipe network based in Prudhoe Bay. Thousands of gallons of oil have leaked from the corroded pipes, leading BP to announce a replacement of the entire Prudhoe Bay pipeline.

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