When Offshore Drilling Becomes a Local Issue

Birds on the beach (Photo – Marta Chociłowska).

We are all saddened by the 126,000 gallons of oil leaked from Beta Offshore’s underwater pipeline off the coast of Southern California.

By Cheryl Auger

I can’t bring myself to look at the pictures of marine mammals and their devastated habitats knowing how fragile their lives are already, with warming waters and climate change. Offshore drilling is a federal issue, but by not creating good local policy and practices, Pasadena fuels a continued demand for oil. The City of Pasadena 2021 State Legislative Platform shows we support oil and gas fracking and drilling. We are buying fossil fuel guzzling helicopters instead of drones and fossil fuel gas guzzling fleet vehicles instead of electric vehicles. We create the demand for fossil fuels and the oil that has now killed our marine animals and their habitats.

When hiring a new city manager, we need to ensure the manager has the experience to address our climate, water, and plastic crises. We need Pasadena to create sound environmental policy, including the use of green local energy, managing our own organic food waste locally, and reducing reliance on shipping and transportation by providing incentives to create local supplies.

In addition to eliminating use of fossil fuel vehicles and tools, we need to focus on plastic. The oil industry plans to double plastic production between 2030 and 2035, and producers of single-use plastic polymers plan to increase capacity by 30% with an additional 70 metric tons to be produced. Ocean Conservancy says plastic pollution is like a slow-motion oil spill. Pasadena needs plastic bans to stop the senseless use of plastic and stop the oil demand and the senseless impact on our health, our species, our environment, and our existence.