The next time you drive west on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, just as you pass Clairemont Drive, a new billboard might catch your attention. It reads, “Enjoy Your New Sunset,” and shows a picture of a sunset and offshore drilling platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo our billboards, our three billboards in beach-loving Clairemont, in beach-loving PB, really highlight the devastating impact an oil spill would cause on the ocean, wildlife and San Diego,\u201d Serge Dedina, a former mayor of Imperial Beach who is now the Executive Director of WildCoast, told NBC 7.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Trump administration announced its plans to drill for oil off the coast of California, and the proposal has been met with strong opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo think that we\u2019re going to be looking out over oil rigs, it\u2019s just nuts,\u201d Russell Moore said.<\/p>\n
Moore owns Xplore Offshore, a local boating company that takes people out to sea for ocean excursions like whale watching. The ocean is his office, but more than that, it\u2019s home to marine life and species he wants to protect.<\/p>\n
\u201cA gray whale comes up next to you, or a humpback whale breaches next to you, you have a different vision for the world after that,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIt changes you in a visceral way, because you\u2019re experiencing this wonder that\u2019s right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the former mayor of IB where sewage spills have fouled the coast for years, Dedina knows firsthand what it takes to fight for clean and safe oceans. He fears that, if offshore drilling is approved, the worst could happen, because it\u2019s happened before.<\/p>\n
\u201dEverywhere in Southern California where we have oil drilling and oil production \u2014 in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Orange County \u2014 we\u2019ve had devastating oil spills,” Dedina said.<\/p>\n