FORUM: Bilbray no ocean champion
By DAVID WILMOT - President Ocean Champions | ∞
This past weekend, Rep. Brian Bilbray painted a very rosy ---- and highly misleading ---- picture regarding his role as ambassador for the oceans. As the president of Ocean Champions, the only national organization that evaluates and supports candidates based on their records of protecting the oceans, and one with a strong bipartisan record, I can say that Bilbray has not distinguished himself as an ocean champion.
I know how important the oceans are to San Diego ---- I went to school here and have family here ---- and had high hopes that Bilbray, as a surfer, would be an ocean champion in Congress. So when he declared for the 50th District in 2006, we immediately sent him our questionnaire on ocean and coastal issues.
But despite numerous contacts from us, neither he nor his staff ever responded. We concluded that the oceans must not be that important to him.
And his subsequent actions in Congress have proven that judgment correct.
One of Bilbray's first votes upon returning to Congress in 2006 was to repeal a federal ban on offshore oil drilling along the California coastline. As anyone who remembers the 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara knows, the moratorium on offshore oil drilling is critical to protecting ocean health.
When Bilbray voted to lift the moratorium, (an effort Ocean Champions helped defeat) our decision not to endorse him was validated.
Last year, Bilbray was one of only 25 members of the entire Congress to vote against the Water Resources Development Act, which encouraged the protection of our shoreline and provided for aquatic ecosystem restoration.
He also voted against an alternative energy bill aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and mitigating the effects of global warming, although the rise in CO2 levels is creating increasingly acidic oceans that may already be having a devastating impact on ocean life, especially coral and shellfish. His "no" votes do not represent a vote for healthy oceans.
Bilbray's claims about the reauthorization of the Beach Act also don't hold water. It was primarily concerned with reporting water quality violations, rather than doing anything to actually reduce those violations. Most experts think the only reason for the decrease in beach closures has to do with a combination of dry-weather years, which reduces harmful runoff, and a change in the way that the closures are reported.
If Bilbray were concerned about protecting our oceans, he would support visionary bills like Oceans 21, which establishes a national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health of our oceans. This bipartisan bill, which has numerous Democratic and Republican cosponsors, is gaining momentum and recently passed its first vote in Congress. He is not among the cosponsors ---- why not?
Of course, the candidates' records and plans for our oceans should be a campaign issue for California's 50th District. Ocean Champions wants to ensure that the records are accurate and transparent. Our oceans need true champions in Congress and not just on the campaign trail.
David Wilmot is founder and president of Ocean Champions, a 501(c)(4) organization, which focuses solely on oceans and ocean wildlife.
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Mark wrote on May 30, 2008 8:49 AM:David Wilmot's comments about Bilbray have credibility inasmuch as he is President of the respected group "Ocean Champions". Too often we see politicians like Bilbray praising themselves for failing to remedy real problems, but claiming otherwise. Isn't it time to send Bilbray back to his former job as a lobbyist so he could be on their payroll instead of ours? Actually, he votes as if he is on their payroll even when he is on ours.
Thank you wrote on May 30, 2008 10:49 PM:This is a great piece. I wish all the voters in Bilbray's district would read it...that guy is a do-nothing blow hard and has to go. Out of Washington before he ruins all the beaches here.
Voter wrote on Jun 2, 2008 9:08 AM:One of many reasons Bilbray needs to be sent packing, AGAIN!
Independent wrote on Jun 3, 2008 3:26 PM:Why does Wilmot insist that a politician's ocean record merely has to be defined by opposition to offshore oil, as if that was the only issue that mattered. Get over the ghost of a 40-year-old oil spill, the ocean has much more serious threats than oil and gas exploration that will never again happen off our coast thanks to the effort of counties and the California Coastal Commission to prevent it. Anyone who has been to Santa Barbara lately will see the only effects of the spill are that it helps a bunch of aging hippies define a shining spot in their youth. I am more concerned about leaking sewage from old pipes than I am of the non-existent possibility of oil development. We need to start thinking for ourselves and quit living in the past.
cameron wrote on Jun 6, 2008 3:41 PM:Nobody in their right mind wants to see off shore oil rigs sprouting up from Oceanside to La Jolla, but that's what Bilbray supports. What we need is both a short term and along term energy plan for the 21st century, not he 20th century. We need to produce our own energy and be energy independent without endangering the ocean.
Carol wrote on Jun 9, 2008 9:28 AM:Independent ignored the fact that the oil moratorium was only one of the issues mentioned. There are a number of other specific examples mentioned above.
Why isn't Rep. Bilbray a cosponsor of Oceans 21? Why did he vote against the Water Resources Development Act? Those are real questions that deserve answers for the voters in this area.
Ben wrote on Jun 9, 2008 2:49 PM:In response to the comments made by "Independent", the ghost of a 40-year-old oil spill is contaminated beaches, destroys ecosystems, and depleted marine populations - the ghost that keeps on haunting. Sewage (also disgusting) is another issue Ocean Champions is fighting. Wilmot gets things done for California beaches, I suggest joining the fight for our oceans rather throwing around lame insults.
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