Big Oil Takes Over Marine Protection in California:

Big Oil Takes Over Marine “Protection” in California

by Dan Bacher

Corporate greenwashing in California under Arnold Schwarzenegger, the “green governor,” has become so bizarre and egregious that no political satirist, comedian or novelist could concoct fictional schemes that rival the reality of current politics in the state.

Only in Schwarzenegger’s California would a governor appoint an oil industry lobbyist to a key administration position supposedly promoting “marine protection” at a time when oil companies are seeking to expand drilling operations off the California coast. Schwarzenegger strongly supports linking $140 million in annual funding for State Parks to approval of the Tranquillon Ridge oil-drilling project off the coast of Santa Barbara (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/22/oil-parks-plan-derided-blackmail).

With this in mind, it is not surprising that Secretary of Resources Mike Chrisman in August 2009 announced the Governor’s appointment of Cathy Reheis-Boyd, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Western States Petroleum Association, as chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force for the remainder of the MLPA South Project.

After having served on the MLPA Task Force for the North Central Coast, Chrisman and Schwarzenegger apparently thought she had done such a good job of promoting the fast-track MLPA process that he appointed her to the new position.

Under the guise of “marine protection,” Reheis-Boyd and other task force members developed a “marine protected area” plan on the North Central Coast that banned the Kashia Pomo Tribe and other American Indian Nations from harvesting seaweed, mussels and abalone as they had done for centuries from their traditional areas off Stewarts Point and Point Arena. In spite of overwhelming opposition to the plan by North Coast environmentalists, seaweed harvesters, fishermen and Indian Tribes, the Fish and Game Commission voted for the “Integrated Preferred Alternative” (IPA) adopted by the task force on August 5.

“When the first settlers came to the coast, they didn’t know how to feed themselves,” Lester Pinola, the past chairman of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria in Sonoma County, told the Commission before the vote. “Our people showed them how to eat out of the ocean. In my opinion, this was a big mistake.”

In yet another installment in this living political satire, the Board of Directors of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) on October 16, 2009 announced that Reheis-Boyd would assume the role of President of the oil and natural gas industry trade association January 1, 2010.

“No one is more capable, experienced and deserving of leading our Association into the future than Cathy Reheis-Boyd,” said Gary Yesavage, President of Global Manufacturing for Chevron Corporation and Chairman of WSPA’s Board of Directors. “Cathy is a great leader and the Board is 100 percent confident she will continue to be a forceful and successful advocate for our industry.”

The Western States Petroleum Association is the leading petroleum industry trade association in six western states – California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Its twenty-seven members include major integrated oil and natural gas companies as well as independent refiners and marketers, and independent producers. Formed in 1906, it is the oldest petroleum industry trade association in the United States.


snip

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/02/01/670/