Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 51
CHAPTER 146
Relative to offshore oil drilling.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 19, 2008.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 51, Oil and gas: offshore drilling: leases: moratorium.
This measure would request that the Congress of the United States continue the federal offshore oil and gas leasing moratorium for the 2009 fiscal year and beyond, and would express opposition to certain provisions of proposed federal energy policies and legislation.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, A bipartisan consensus in the Congress of the United States has protected the California coastline from expanded offshore drilling for the past 27 years, renewing this protection each year in the form of a congressional moratorium contained in the appropriations bill for the United States Department of the Interior; and
WHEREAS, This offshore leasing moratorium also protects the coastlines of Oregon and Washington; and
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush’s recent statement on June 17, 2008, supports drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf; and
WHEREAS, Senator John McCain has also expressed his opinion to relax the current moratorium on offshore drilling; and
WHEREAS, A report by the United States House Committee on Natural Resources stated in June 2008 that drilling for oil off the Outer Continental Shelf would not lower gasoline prices; and
WHEREAS, The Congress introduced several measures that would open the entire Outer Continental Shelf to increased oil and gas drilling, potentially exposing our coast to unacceptable environmental impacts; and
WHEREAS, These measures and amendments to the annual United States Department of the Interior appropriations bill would, if adopted, immediately void the entire bipartisan congressional offshore leasing moratorium, while undermining states’ rights by pressuring coastal jurisdictions to facilitate new federal offshore drilling by making a state’s share of the federal
revenues from these activities contingent on state approval of new and expanded federal offshore leasing; and
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush has proposed ending the presidential withdrawal of the California Outer Continental Shelf lands managed by the federal government from consideration for offshore oil and gas drilling; and
WHEREAS, Following the infamous 1969 oil spill that resulted in the spillage of 3,200,000 gallons of crude oil, fouling 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 future oil and gas leasing in state waters, from Mexico to the Oregon border, in perpetuity, and adding 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, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary 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 severe impacts from seismic surveys on marine mammals, that could involve threatened and endangered species, including blue and humpback whales; 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; 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 continue 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 damaging coastal provisions of proposed federal energy policies and legislation, including, but not limited to, the adoption of H.R. 2784 and the end of presidential withdrawal of Outer Continental Shelf lands from any offshore drilling program, or any other proposal that would weaken California’s legitimate role in energy siting decisions due to the threat posed by such 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.