WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) announced his strong opposition to President Bush’s plan to build oil refineries on closed military bases, which the President announced yesterday and is expected to address during his press conference this evening.
“The President has never seen an environmental problem he thought couldn’t be solved by covering it over with an oil rig or a refinery. Unfortunately, refineries don’t reduce our dependence on foreign oil and they won’t erase this administration’s failure to decontaminate closed military bases,” said Stark.
Stark represents the former Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda, Calif. The 2,479 acre site was closed for military use in 1997 but still lies largely unoccupied because of significant contamination problems. The City of Alameda has a master development plan which includes a National Wildlife Refuge, housing, and new commercial and light industrial space on Alameda Point. This plan, however, would be overruled should Alameda Point be selected to host a new refinery.
“Just last week, the administration pushed an energy bill through the House that it admits will raise gas prices and do nothing to improve the fuel economy of cars. To turn around to communities like Alameda and ask them to shoulder any responsibility for a failed national energy policy is unacceptable.”
