Rep. Lynn Woolsey answered that she could accept wind power "if it's not harmful to the environment" and it's visually acceptable. Remember the circus that followed plans to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound, with the otherwise-environmentally sensitive Kennedy family in opposition? The arguments that drilling critics have used -- as in, drilling is bad for tourism -- may well be used against wind turbines.

Rep. Jackie Speier and Sen. Barbara Boxer complained that oil companies aren't drilling in all the areas already leased. I don't get it. Big Oil pays for the leases, so if they don't drill -- for economic reasons, I assume -- why do No Oilers complain?

Accidents? Boxer brought up the 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, Calif., and another Santa Barbara spill in 2008. Salazar's Interior Department, however, has issued a report that notes the industry's record "shows good results in preventing and minimizing spills." It also cites a 2003 National Research Council report that found "offshore oil and gas development was responsible for only 2 percent of the petroleum found in the marine environment for North America." That's right, folks. Mother Nature also puts oil in the ocean.

My guess is that Salazar will approve new leases for the Gulf Coast, where people value oil jobs more than B & Bs. But as for California, how can President Obama refuse the wishes of Democrats in a state that demands cheap gas to fuel its car culture and then says no to more oil drilling at the voting booth?

Salazar noted in a news conference Thursday that oil, natural gas and coal are going to be part of America's energy mix for years to come. He's right, so the issue is: Where will America get its oil?

When it was Western States Petroleum Association President Joe Sparano's turn to talk, Salazar saluted him for appearing before the hostile crowd and then exhorted the room to give Sparano "a round of applause." The sound that followed was not clapping. Some people held up dollar bills. Sparano had crashed their party.

Sparano noted that California produces about 800,000 barrels of oil a day but consumes almost twice that amount of oil. The Department of the Interior estimates that there are some 10 billion barrels of "technically recoverable" oil off the West Coast. That's enough, Sparano argued, to replace California's foreign oil use for 35 years. If he's half-right, then think of the gains for California and the losses for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The only other morning speaker who supported California oil drilling was Van Bivans, who runs a Super 8 motel in Goleta, Calif. He said that he remembers what $4-a-gallon gas did to area businesses last year and that "many businesses could go under" if gas prices reach that level again. Some in the room hissed.