Despite an ongoing catastrophic oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and an explosion at another off-shore facility in August there are those who continue to call for more drilling off-shore regardless of the consequences.
State lawmakers have passed a bill and sent to the Governor for his signature that seeks to head off such events in the future.
Assembly Bill 234, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman and sponsored by Pacific Environment, strengthens California’s oil spill prevention requirements by requiring pre-booming - placing oil containment boom around ships before fueling. Such a precaution could have prevented damage from the Dubai Star oil spill in San Francisco just last year. The bill also requires additional safety measures for offshore oil platforms to prevent blowout preventer failures, as occurred in the Gulf last Spring.
“Oil spill clean up, coupled with lost revenues from fishing and tourism, costs millions of dollars that can never be recouped,” said Huffman. “We cannot leave California defenseless against oil spills, especially in the wake of the Gulf Coast catastrophe. AB 234 will save state and local resources by preventing contamination from oil spills that would otherwise occur in the absence of pre-booming.”
Governor Schwarzenegger has until September 30th to sign into law the legislation.
Source material from press releases.
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