Did you know that the moratorium for offshore oil and gas drilling for Oregon's Territorial Sea (0-3NM) is set to expire on January 2nd, 2010? Although most people realize that our waters don't contain enough oil and gas to be feasibly extracted, the sunsetting of this moratorium is alarming to many ocean users and Oregonians who are concerned about the environmental impacts if oil drilling were to occur off our coastline. Fortunately a leader has emerged to address this issue as Representative Ben Cannon (chair of the House Environment and Water Committee) has announced that he intends to introduce legislation that would create a permanent ban on oil and gas leasing and drilling within Oregon's waters as his one priority bill for the upcoming special legislative session in February. "As far as Oregon is concerned, it's just a poor economic use of our ocean" Rep. Cannon says of oil drilling. To read some recent press on this issue, click here. To learn more about the impacts of offshore oil drilling, check out the NOT THE ANSWER blog.
Please help out by signing on to the letter of support here: oilandgas.jointletter.v3.doc send contact info to Gus Gates