Posted on 06/10/2015 6:39:05 AM PDT by thackney
In the largest expansion of national marine sanctuaries in California in 23 years, the Obama administration on Tuesday more than doubled the size of two Northern California marine sanctuaries, extending them by 50 miles up the rugged Sonoma and Mendocino coasts.
Under the dramatic move by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries expand from Bodega Bay to Point Arena, permanently banning offshore oil drilling along that stretch of coast.
"These waters represent an extraordinary marine ecosystem, one of the richest on our planet," said Maria Brown, NOAA's superintendent of the Farallones sanctuary, headquartered in San Francisco.
The announcement marks the largest expansion of national marine sanctuaries in California since President George H.W. Bush established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992.
NOAA also announced Tuesday the larger sanctuary's name has been changed to the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to reflect the broader boundaries.
"If an oil spill were to happen in this system, you could wipe out major parts of the food chain for Monterey Bay and the Northern California coast," said Richard Charter, a senior fellow with the Ocean Foundation in Washington, D.C.
"This is a Serengeti of the ocean in terms of wildlife diversity and richness. If any place deserves permanent protection, it is this place. I have been working on this since 1976. Today I'm having one of the best days of my life."
The area is famous for its steep cliffs, wind-swept bluffs and long sandy beaches. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, oil companies showed interest in sinking new rigs in the area, which includes the communities of Jenner, Sea Ranch and Gualala, along with Fort Ross, a former Russian fur-trading outpost that dates back to 1812.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Hey, there’s no fresh water anyway, why don’t we make these clowns park there cars also.
No fuel trucks allowed to supply gas stations!
Walk along the beach on some areas of California (Santa Barbara comes to mind) and the oil is seeping up through the sand. Whether they like it or not, oil IS part of the environment, just like seaweed.
Early in the morning here....
When I read the headline I did not realize CA had a new stretch of coast....
Oil in the ocean has been around as long as recorded history. Even when the concentration is too high, nature has a marvelous capacity to recover.
Is anyone still talking all the oil Saddam purposely dumped in the Persian Gulf in the closing days of the first Gulf War? Or even the millions of barrels which BP actually released when their platform in the Gulf of Mexico went kaput just four years ago?
Government by bureaucracy. Gotta love it.
Now on to the EPA.
Who needs Congress.
California has gone far toward converting itself into a third world despotism. The very wealthy cluster in their enclaves on the coast and the rest of the state is becoming impoverished peasants who will continue all to vote for those who promise to give them stuff even as they impoverish them and chase them out of the state.
The next presidential election will be for a dictator. We must vote in hopes of getting a dictator more sympathetic to our own tribe. Whatever the views of the next president he will be effectively a dictator. All the power now inhering in the Executive cannot be given back. That is where the republic has fetched up. We have adopted Venezuela as the model of Good Governance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.