Bill Text: CA AJR3 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Offshore oil drilling.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 41-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-08-18 - To inactive file on motion of Senator Lowenthal. [AJR3 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AJR3-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AJR 3 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 26, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 19, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 1, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 27, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Nava and Evans
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Beall, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Caballero, Carter, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Furutani, Hayashi, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Ruskin, Salas, Skinner, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torrico, and Yamada)
(Coauthors: Senators Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley, Price, Wiggins,
and Yee)
JANUARY 23, 2009
Relative to campaign finance reform
offshore oil drilling .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 3, as amended, Nava. Offshore oil drilling.
This measure would memorialize the Legislature's support of
legislation currently pending in the United States Congress that
would protect the Pacific Coast from new offshore oil drilling. 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 due to those policies.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, Prior to 2009, a bipartisan consensus in the Congress of
the United States protected the California coastline from expanded
offshore drilling for over 27 years; and
WHEREAS, The tragic and destructive oil rig explosion and
subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to the death of
11 workers and millions of gallons of oil spilled into the sea, is a
grim reminder of the risks associated with oil drilling; and
WHEREAS, Following the infamous January 29, 1969, oil spill that
resulted in the spillage of 3.2 million gallons of crude oil and
fouled Santa Barbara County's ocean beaches, Californians became even
more wary about offshore oil drilling, spurring 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,
with 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 the use of seismic surveys that could
severely impact marine mammals, including threatened and endangered
species such as the blue whale and the 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, damaging coastal habitat, 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 opposes any 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 Legislature of the State of California supports
legislation currently pending in the United States Congress that
would protect the Pacific Coast from any new offshore oil drilling;
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, to the Secretary of the Interior, and to the author
for appropriate distribution.
