State Senator David Min Introduces Bill to Ban Offshore Drilling in California Waters : Indybay

Senator Dave Ming announced the enactment of SB 559, which will end offshore oil drilling under existing leases in California waters.

Sacramento, California. While California officials and corporate media continue to claim the state is the nation’s “green leader”, offshore oil and gas drilling continues in state and federal waters off the coast of Southern California.

There has been a moratorium on approving new leases off the coast of California for the past 40 years, but oil production has continued and hundreds of new and revised permits have been approved under existing leases first issued in the 1960s and 1970s by the administrations of Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. x years.

As a result, major oil spills, such as the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill and the 2021 Huntington Beach oil spill, periodically pollute California waters and kill and injure fish and wildlife.

To change that situation, Senator Dave Min announced on February 16 the introduction of SB 559, legislation that would end offshore oil drilling under existing leases in California waters. There are currently three offshore platforms producing oil in state waters and 27 platforms in federal waters. State waters are those that are within 3 miles of the coast, and federal waters are those that are outside the 3 mile line.

Senator Min introduced a similar bill in February 2022, Senate Bill 953, which would end drilling in California waters by the end of 2023. campaign sponsors from oil-friendly lawmakers prevented the bill from leaving the committee.

SB 559 requires the State Lands Commission to “negotiate in good faith with oil and gas producers to enter into joint agreements that would voluntarily waive all leases under state jurisdiction by December 31, 2025.”

“If a waiver agreement is not reached by that date, SB 559 will require the Commission to terminate these leases and stop oil production from the three remaining state-owned platforms that operate off the coast of Orange County,” Sen. Min said in a statement. Office.

“After the 2021 oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, I promised that I would fight to stop offshore drilling once and for all,” Min said. “Today I am proud to say that I continue to deliver on that promise. Offshore drilling threatens our living marine ecosystems and the nearly $2 trillion a year generated by our coastal economy.”

“The meager benefits of offshore oil do not justify the enormous risks they pose to our coastal communities. SB 559 offers a thoughtful and measured approach that will put an end to offshore drilling in state waters once and for all,” Min said.

The October 2021 oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach released at least 25,000 gallons of crude oil in a 750 mile radius south to the Mexican border.

According to the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), California’s total cleanup costs are $2,813,205. In addition to response costs, OSPR incurred $288,644 for ongoing natural resource damage assessment and restoration costs.

SB 559 will affect three offshore oil and gas platforms: Eva, Emmy and Ester. Platforms Eva and Emmy are located in Huntington Beach, while Esther is located near Seal Beach.

“These three platforms, which were built between 1963 and 1985, have outlived their planned lifespan and pose a $2 trillion threat to our marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and the state’s coastal economy,” Ming said.

According to CalGEM, the Eva platform has 42 active wells, the Esther platform has 30 active wells, and the Emmy platform has 44 active wells. This number does not include wells that were properly plugged and abandoned.

As of October 1, 2021, CalGEM has issued a total of 150 offshore drilling permits in state waters under existing leases since January 1, 2019, according to an analysis published by Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance. Five of these permits were for new drilling and the remaining 145 were for rework (including sidetracking and dredging work).

In February 2017, a Fractracker Alliance analysis of Department of Conservation data showed that Governor Jerry Brown’s oil and gas regulators approved 238 new or rehabilitated offshore oil wells in state waters under existing leases from Los Angeles and Ventura counties. from 2012 to 2016. an increase of 17 percent.

Although the bill does not yet have a list of sponsors, supporters, or opponents, as it has been introduced, it is expected to be supported by environmental, conservation, and public interest groups, with the Western States Petroleum Association and oil companies vehemently opposed him.

California’s oil and gas industry spent more than $34.2 million in the 2021-2022 legislative session on bills they opposed, including Ming’s previous bill to ban drilling in state waters, a mandatory 3,200-foot buffer zone around oil and gas wells, and a bill to abandon California’s public pension funds.

According to data posted on the California Secretary of State’s website, Big Oil spent a total of $4,220,214 on lobbying in the last quarter from October 1 to December 31, 2022. Thus, the total expenses of oil and gas corporations on lobbying for the eight quarters of the 2021-2022 session amounted to $34,270,001: cal-access.sos.ca.gov/…

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the largest and most influential corporate lobby group in Sacramento, spent $11,720,912 in the 2021-2022 sessions. They spent $1,734,594 of the $4,220,214 spent on lobbying by the California oil and gas industry in the eighth quarter.

Chevron Corporation, the San Ramon-based oil giant notorious for environmental destruction and degradation from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Richmond, California, spent a total of $8,631,118 lobbying California officials for the 2021-2022 session. They spent $782,341 of $4,220,214 on lobbying for fossil fuels in the fourth quarter.

For the oil corporations, this lobbying money is just small change. While Californians were gouged at gas stations, Chevron reported $35.5 billion in 2022 profit, more than double its $15.6 billion profit last year, Consumer Watchdog reported.

Lobbying is just one of eight methods used by Big Oil in California to exert undue influence on California regulators. The WSPA and the big oil companies use their power in 8 main ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) maintain and place barkers on control panels; (4) creation of Astroturf groups; (5) work in cooperation with the media; (6) building alliances with trade unions; (7) contribution to non-profit organizations; and (8) sponsoring awards for legislators and journalists.

A prime example of how the oil and gas industry is part of the regulators is Katherine Reiss-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, who led the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California from 2009 to 2012, and as part of the “Marine Protected Areas” task forces on the Central Coast, North Central Coast, and North Coast from 2004 to 2012.

The introduction of SB 559 Mina followed the introduction of the West Coast Ocean Protection Act by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Jared Huffman (both California states), which permanently banned new drilling leases in federal waters off the West Coast off the coast of California. Oregon and Washington.

In the Senate, the bill was supported by Senators Alex Padilla (D-California), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Patty Murray (D-Washington), and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington). -Washington), Bob Menendez (DN.J.), Corey Booker (DN.J.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

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