California's governor Jerry Brown has urged US President Barack Obama to permanently withdraw waters off his state from new offshore oil and gas leasing and "guarantee that future oil and gas drilling" is prohibited.
Brown had sucessfully joined the governors of Oregon and Washington in securing the the Pacific region from new oil and gas leasing in the 2017-22 leasing program.
"I now urge you to use your authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Act to permanently withdraw federal waters off the coast of California from new offshore oil and gas leasing and guarantee that future oil and gas drilling in these waters is prohibited," he says in a letter to the president.
"California is blessed with hundreds of miles of spectacular coastline; home to scenic state parks, beautiful beaches, abundent wildlide and thriving communicities. Clearly, large new oil and gas reserves would be inconsistent with our overriding imperative to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and combat the devastating impacts of climate change. Now is the time to make permanent the protection of our ocean waters and beaches from new oil and gas drilling."
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