Letter: Pombo mumbo-jumbo

Editor, Daily News:

Re: Editor Phil Lewis' Sunday column about congressional dealings on offshore oil exploration.

For those who think U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo is a true believer on states' rights and that he would never betray that position and endanger Florida's coast, consider this: His own amendments to the energy bill in 2005 contained a provision to strip states of permitting authority over LNG ports — despite their danger as terrorism targets — in favor of having the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission make all siting decisions. This provision is now law.

He has a similar take on powerline rights of way. Pombo is a states' rights hypocrite.

He believes in states' rights only when it is convenient to him.

And beware of making deals with him. His proposal to let states opt out of the national offshore oil drilling moratorium also allows the Secretary of the Interior to overrule states, and allows oil producing states to ignore their neighbor's concerns about oil spills.

As every major oil spill has shown, including those in the Gulf of Mexico, state boundaries mean little to oil traveling on currents or blown by the wind. Florida's $50 billion-plus coastal economy means absolutely nothing to Richard Pombo.

When it comes to protecting our coasts, the only good Pombo proposal is a dead Pombo proposal.

Carl Zichella , Sacramento, CA , Regional Staff Director , Sierra Club