Demonstration in front of Chevron to Protest New Oil Drilling Off Central Coast

On July 23rd, as the California budget bill moves to the state legislature, local residents, some dressed as jelly fish and a sea anemone, held an afternoon demonstration in front of the Chevron on Ocean St. in Santa Cruz to oppose a plan to open the Central Coast to new drilling for the first time in 40 years. Demonstrators, including the staff of Save Our Shores, a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz working since 1978 to prevent oil drilling in the Monterey Bay, are calling on the legislature to oppose new drilling off the California Coast, and instead pass an oil severance tax which would reportedly raise $1 billion a year from existing leases. ((i))