SACRAMENTO – On the Anniversary of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil spill, California State Assemblymembers Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), announce the introduction of Assembly Joint Resolution 3 telling Congress and the President that California opposes expansion of offshore oil drilling and asks that the offshore oil moratorium be reinstated.

“Drilling off California’s beautiful and unique coast is a bad idea,” said Assemblymember Noreen Evans.  “All the oil off our coast would supply our nation with enough gas for only 17 months and would have no effect on gas prices.  But it would cost us far more in lost tourism and risk another oil spill.  That’s a price Californians don’t want to pay.”

Last year saw a dramatic shift in federal policy on offshore drilling.  In 2008, President Bush repealed his father’s Executive Order that had protected our coasts since 1990 and
Congress failed to renew the moratorium on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), opening up federal waters off of the California coast for drilling for the first time since the bipartisan moratorium was instituted 1981.

Two weeks ago, during the last days of the Bush administration, the Department of Interior took advantage of these changes to propose that over 130 million acres of federal waters off the California Coast. One of the proposed leases would require slant drilling into the Santa Barbara Ecological Preserve.

“Increased offshore oil drilling will put our coastline at risk; endanger tourism, fisheries and coastal recreation,” said Nava “This resolution expresses the California Legislature’s strong opposition to any attempts to open up the California Coast to offshore drilling.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill when million gallons of oil choked 35 miles of California’s Coastline causing a path of destruction never before seen in our nation’s history.  The carcasses of dolphins and seals washed ashore and countless birds, fish and other wildlife wore black shrouds. The spill and its aftermath galvanized the country, raised environmental awareness and was the catalyst to the modern environmental movement in the United States.  

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BILL NUMBER: AJR 3        INTRODUCED
          BILL TEXT

 

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Nava and Assembly Member Evans

                        JANUARY 23, 2009

   Relative to offshore oil drilling.

 

          LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

 

AJR 3, as introduced, Nava. Offshore oil drilling. This measure would request that the Congress of the United States reinstate the federal offshore oil and gas leasing moratorium for the 2009 fiscal year and beyond. This measure would also memorialize the Legislature's opposition to the proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling off the Pacific Coast and any federal energy policies and legislation that would weaken California's role in energy siting decisions by those policies. Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The United States Department of the Interior, acting in President Bush's final days in office, on January 16, 2009, proposed opening up 130 million acres off of California's coast to drilling for oil and natural gas; and

 WHEREAS, Proposed drilling areas include areas off Humboldt and

Mendocino Counties and from San Luis Obispo south to San Diego; and

   WHEREAS, Following the infamous January 29, 1969, oil spill that resulted in the spillage of 3,200,000 gallons of crude oil and that fouled Santa Barbara County's ocean beaches, Californians became even more wary about offshore oil drilling, continuing with the passage of additional oil and gas leasing prohibitions in 1969, 1970, and 1971; and

 WHEREAS, In 1994, the California Coastal Sanctuary Act of 1994

(Chapter 3.4 (commencing with Section 6240) of Part 1 of Division 6

of the Public Resources Code) became law, creating a comprehensive statewide coastal sanctuary that prohibits, in perpetuity, future oil and gas leasing in state waters, from Mexico to the Oregon border, and that adds leases to the sanctuary as they are quitclaimed to the state; and

WHEREAS, In addition, the protection of California's spectacular 1,100 mile coastline is of the utmost importance to a number of our state's coastal and ocean-dependent industries, including tourism and commercial fishing, which contributed over $50 billion to California' s economy in 2003; and

 WHEREAS, California's ocean waters are also home to four important sanctuaries, that are, by definition, areas of special conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, cultural, archaeological, scientific, educational, and aesthetic qualities and are particularly sensitive to the impacts of oil development; and

 WHEREAS, Additional offshore oil leasing and production would degrade the quality of our air and water and adversely impact our marine resources, including seismic surveys that could severely impact marine mammals, including threatened and endangered species such as the blue and humpback whale; and

 WHEREAS, Offshore oil development poses a serious risk of oil spills, especially with the introduction of deepwater drilling technologies and floating oil storage and processing vessels, thereby threatening marine ecosystems, and could have devastating effects on the southern sea otter, listed as a threatened species since 1997, as well as onshore wildlife, birds, and their habitats in the ocean, in estuaries, and on beaches; and

 WHEREAS, Offshore oil development also leads to the industrialization of the shoreline, creating land use conflicts, visually degrading coastal areas, and posing potentially life-threatening public safety risks; and

 WHEREAS, The further development of nonrenewable resources that degrade our air, water, and land is contrary to our state's goals of reducing emissions that cause global warming, improving air quality, and increasing the use of renewable energy; now, therefore, be it

 Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully requests that the Congress of the United States reinstate the federal offshore oil and gas leasing moratorium for the

2009 fiscal year and beyond; and be it further

 Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully opposes the proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling off the Pacific Coast and any federal energy policies and legislation that would weaken California's legitimate role in energy siting decisions due to the threat posed by those policies and legislation to the integrity of California's coastal and ocean dependent tourism and fishing economies and the consolidation of project review authority with the federal government; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.