Center for Biological Diversity

Media Advisory, July 24, 2017

Contact:  Blake Kopcho, Center for Biological Diversity, (805) 708-3435, bkopcho@biologicaldiversity.org
Alena Simon, Food & Water Watch, (612) 986-4323, asimon@fwwatch.org

Campaign Opposing Offshore Drilling, Fracking Launched in Santa Barbara

Press Conference to Discuss Santa Barbara City Council Resolution, First in Series of California Cities Resisting Trump Push to Expand Offshore Leasing 

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Elected representatives; a business owner; and environmental organizers will hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss the launch of a statewide campaign against expanded offshore oil drilling and fracking along California's coast. Afterward, the Santa Barbara City Council will approve the first resolution opposing plans by President Trump and the oil industry to expand offshore drilling in federal waters, including possibly the Pacific, which has been protected from new leasing since 1984.

The resolution is co-sponsored by Santa Barbara City Councilmembers Jason Dominguez and Bendy White, who developed it with help from the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, and other organizations. Similar resolutions are being introduced in Los Angeles, Goleta, Berkeley, Oakland, Cayucos, and other cities throughout California.

A similar campaign last year on the East Coast successfully pressured the federal government to abandon a proposal to offer Atlantic offshore leases to oil companies for the first time in more than 30 years. But President Trump issued an executive order on April 28 urging federal agencies to expand offshore drilling in federal waters, possibly including the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans and eastern Gulf of Mexico.

What: Press conference on Santa Barbara City Council resolution opposing expanded offshore oil drilling and fracking in California and the statewide campaign it is launching.

When: Tuesday, July 25, at 1:30 p.m.

Where: Outside Santa Barbara City Hall, 735 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, Calif.

Who: Speakers include Santa Barbara City Councilman Jason Dominguez, a representative for U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, Santa Barbara Adventure Company owner Michael Cohen, and representatives from Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, and Environmental Defense Center. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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