Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

The federal government is moving ahead with plans that could open up the California coast to drilling for oil and natural gas in as little as three years (2012).

A map of these reserves is here.

I wrote about similar moves off the coast of Virginia very recently.

Oil deposits mapped in the 1980s, in the millions of acres, lie a few miles from North Coast forests, near the mouth of the Russian River, and off Malibu, Santa Monica, and La Jolla. The map linked above also shows areas off Eureka, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and Point Arena. The Interior Department estimates that coastal areas of California affected by the now-lifted drilling ban could supply about 10 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. for 17 months.

Representative Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, experienced the devastating Santa Barbara oil spill (3 million gallons of crude oil) in 1969. She noted that the same platform had a small, 1000-gallon spill last week, which she called a wake-up call.

The article at www.sfgate.com has detailed information with regard to drilling off the California coast.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

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