LOS ANGELES – The deal to close California's $26 billion budget deficit
included a plan to drill for offshore oil, drawing allegations that the
fiscal crisis was used for a backroom deal following rejection of the
idea by state regulators earlier this year.
Democrats agreed to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to expand drilling from an existing platform off Santa Barbara
to generate a one-time $100 million advance royalty payment this fiscal
year and an estimated $1.8 billion in royalties over 14 years.
It
would be the first new offshore oil drilling on state lands in four
decades since a blowout on a platform off Santa Barbara coated miles of
ocean and shoreline and galvanized opposition. MORE>>>>>>