The Republican-controlled House on Thursday approved a new, albeit long-shot, bill to expand domestic energy exploration, including opening up new areas off the West Coast to drilling.
The measure would require lease sales by the end of next year for energy production off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, with production coming from existing offshore rigs or onshore-based extended-reach drilling operations.
In addition, the legislation would direct the Interior Department to develop a five-year plan that provides for energy exploration in coastal areas “considered to have the largest undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources,’’ including areas off California.
Drilling off the Virginia and South Carolina coasts enjoys support, but offshore drilling has long been a controversial issue in California, where a 1969 spill off Santa Barbara devastated the coast.
[…]The California delegation broke along party lines, with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats opposing it, except for Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), who backed the bill. Democratic Reps. George Miller of Martinez and Grace Napolitano of Norwalk did not vote.
This is why many rich Republicans in Santa Barbara and around the state vote Democratic even though they would also prefer not to pay taxes.. They don’t want to see the environment destroyed by a bunch of yahoos and the GOP is completely useless on this issue./
.