Does Aaron Crowley Still Support Offshore Drilling?

Chael Sonnen recently dropped out of the House District 37 race, citing legal issues that would prevent him from serving. Seeking to replace him on the ballot is Aaron Crowley, a Republican activist, who is staunchly in favor of offshore oil drilling.

From the OLCV:

The new Republican candidate for House District 37, Aaron Crowley, was backed by the House Republican caucus within 24 hours of Chael Sonnen dropping out of the race last week. Now that Crowley has officially announced his campaign we should all ask him a very important question – do you support ocean oil drilling off the Oregon coast? We should ask Crowley this question because in 2008 he told the Oregonian that one of his problems with John McCain was that he was “initially reluctant to drill for oil.” Reluctant? I distinctly remember the passionate “Drill Baby Drill” chants from the 2008 Republican convention. To be fair to Crowley, let’s assume he, like so many others, bought the oil company story that with today’s technology a large disaster spill couldn’t possibly happen. Then we can ask Crowley a slightly different question – Now that we know the devastation an oil spill would bring to Oregon’s coastal communities, fishing and tourism industries do you still support drilling off of the Oregon coast?

The reality is that this question needs to be asked of every candidate running for office in Oregon this year. The devastation caused by the BP oil spill in The Gulf will take years to clean up, cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and result in millions more in lost jobs and economic damages. Despite this disaster being thousands of miles away, offshore oil drilling and energy policy, should be two of the defining issues in this year’s general election. The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster has fundamentally altered the American political landscape. The best evidence of the huge shift in public opinion since the Gulf spill was a May 27th USA Today/Gallup poll which found:

"Between March and today, with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill intervening, Americans' preferences for prioritizing between environmental protection and energy production have shifted from a somewhat pro-energy stance to an even stronger pro-environment stance.”

In fact, American’s preference for prioritizing environmental protection increased by a net of 23 points in just four months.

It’s easy for Oregonians to be disturbed by the Gulf disaster but dismiss it as a problem that would never hit the Oregon coast. At first glance, that makes some sense. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Ben Cannon, Senator Jackie Dingfelder and the leadership in the Oregon Legislature in February the ban on oil drilling in Oregon’s coastal waters was extended for a decade. But there was major opposition to HB 3613, including No votes from both the House Republican and Senate Leaders. The Republican candidate for Governor, Chris Dudley, said he’s open to offshore drilling. So when you take a closer look, oil drilling off the Oregon coast is much closer than you think.

Now, more than ever, we need leaders who aren’t beholden to the big special interests. Leaders who are willing to help protect our families, communities and environment from the outrageously irresponsible behavior that contributed to the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. This is why we need to ask candidates like Aaron Crowley – would you really put Oregon families and communities at risk by drilling for oil off the Oregon coast?