THAT’S DEBATABLE:

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently opposed new offshore drilling and called on the government to do more to preserve coastal waters. As gas prices have rocketed over the past year, support for offshore drilling has increased. Would you join Schwarzenegger’s drive to lobby for more ocean preservation, or do you think it’s more important to seek new oil?

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s blocking access to the more than $1 trillion worth of oil off our coast is shortsighted and harmful.

Modern slant drilling from land can reach most of our offshore oil without new rigs. Extracting American oil is far cleaner than paying foreign nations to ship their oil to us.

The royalty value to California on oil within our territorial waters is worth at least $20 billion on the 1 billion barrels of oil we know about (more than 9 billion barrels in federal waters). With new exploration, this amount would likely rise to $100 billion — money the state needs to balance its budget without new taxes.

Chuck DeVore

Assemblyman

(R-Newport Beach)

Drilling for American oil is an important part of lowering energy costs and freeing us from dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Slant drilling is often used offshore, allowing for less impact on environmentally sensitive areas. This increases supplies and lowers prices. Opening new oil fields in the U.S., even if new supplies won’t actually reach our gas tank for several years, would immediately affect the upward speculation on investments in oil.

Alternative energy sources need to be developed, but more American oil must be a part of an American energy solution.

Van Tran

Assemblyman

(R-Costa Mesa)

America is digging itself into a hole that deepens daily. We import 70% of our oil, an addiction that threatens our economy, environment and national security.

Adding more oil platforms would help increase domestic supply; however, if we add platforms we must also adopt a comprehensive energy plan that would make the most of cleaner-burning natural gas and better harnesses domestic energy alternatives, including renewable resources.

We need to be looking to the future to embrace cleaner, cheaper and 100% American-made energy. This will benefit our economy, and increase our national security.

Tom Harman

State Senator

(R-Huntington Beach)