California Governor Pushes for Offshore Renewables, Calls for Oil & Gas Drilling Halt

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help expand offshore renewable energy development.

Under the agreement, California and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) will coordinate the environmental review of potential marine renewable energy projects, such as offshore wind and wave energy, continue to identify offshore areas for potential projects, and update permitting guidance for these projects.

“We will continue to transition from the fossil fuels of the past to the renewable energy of the future,” said Governor Brown. “With this agreement, we’re harnessing California’s bountiful sun, wind and waves to generate the energy we need.”

Also, Governor Brown yesterday sent a letter to President Obama, calling on the administration to use its authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 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.

“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,” Governor Brown wrote. “Now is the time to make permanent the protection of our ocean waters and beaches from new oil and gas drilling.”

Additionally, Governor Brown joined Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Chile in the United States Patricio Utreras and Consul General of France in San Francisco Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens today to launch a new partnership of jurisdictions around the world committed to protecting coastal communities and economies from the threat of rising ocean acidity, called the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification.