Bill Text: CA AJR3 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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

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BILL NUMBER: AJR 3	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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, Bass, Beall, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Caballero, Carter, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Hayashi, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian,
Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Skinner, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torrico, and Yamada)
    (   Coauthors:   Senators  
Pavley,   Wiggins,   and Yee   ) 

                        JANUARY 23, 2009

   Relative to offshore oil drilling.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 3, as amended, 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 six million acres off of California's coast to drilling
for oil and natural gas; and
   WHEREAS, While the Obama Administration has put a hold on the
Department of the Interior's January 16th plan in order to consider
various possible impacts of offshore oil development as well as
consider input from the public, the expansion of oil development in
areas previously protected by the outer continental shelf moratorium
remain under consideration; 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,  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 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, to the Secretary of the Interior, and to the author
for appropriate distribution.