McCain plans to take part in an environmental panel here today with Schwarzenegger, who spent much of his gubernatorial runs touting hydrogen-based cars. Schwarzenegger, who endorses McCain, forcefully brushed aside the unofficial GOP presidential nominee's position last week.
"We made a decision a while back to say no drilling off our shores in California, and we are serious about that and we're not going to change that, no matter who is recommending other things," Schwarzenegger said, pressing for alternative fuel solutions.
California has much more virulently opposed offshore drilling than have other states. Political analysts, including Republicans, said McCain's stance suggested a trade-off -- winning votes in key Midwest states on the issue at the cost of losing them in California.
"McCain is essentially conceding what would have been an uphill fight in California in order to strengthen his opportunities in states like Michigan and Ohio," said Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant who worked for McCain in 2000. He added: "Whether this plays in Santa Barbara is much less important than how it plays in Columbus, Ohio."
To a large degree, the nation's environmental leanings were sealed in January 1969, when an oil line blowout thrust 3 million gallons of syrupy crude into the Pacific. More than 10,000 birds died, too covered with muck to fly. Sea grasses were smothered. The sludge was so thick it stilled the ocean's waves. America watched it unfold on television.
Out of the disaster, the largest of its kind until the Exxon Valdez marred Alaska's Prince William Sound 20 years later, came a national movement. Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act later that year, and the state followed suit. Moratoriums have protected much of the coast in recent years, despite Bush's support for drilling. And opposition in California to offshore exploration has come to be largely bipartisan, with Democrats and Republicans competing over environmental bona fides.
"It's not an issue here, it's a deeply held value," said consultant Don Sipple, who worked for Wilson and many other GOP candidates and lives in Montecito. "People will value an ocean more than they will oil platforms . . . and it's just not going to change."
Los Angeles Times polls show that, in California, opposition to offshore drilling has not weakened even during past energy crises. But new national polls have shown that the country, burdened by exploding gas prices, supports drilling in sensitive areas.
