DAILY KOS: Bill to End Offshore Oil Drilling …
BY DAN BACHER
SACRAMENTO, CA — New oil leases for offshore oil and gas drilling have been banned in California waters for decades, but the oil industry can keep drilling in state waters 3 miles and less from shore under existing leases.
Senator Dave Min’s Senate Bill (SB) 559 seeks to change this situation by requiring the California State Lands Commission to take immediate steps to terminate the remaining leases for offshore oil drilling in California state waters.
The bill passed out of its first legislative committee earlier this week. The State Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, chaired by Senator Min, approved the measure by a 7-3 vote.
“As the 2021 oil spill off the coast of Orange County starkly illustrated (as did the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill), offshore drilling poses a clear and immediate
threat to our beautiful beaches and our vibrant $44 billion a year coastal
economy,” said Senator Min.
“These offshore oil rigs, which were built between the 1960s and 1980s, are long past their shelf life, and the wildcat oil companies that now operate these rigs have no incentives to invest meaningfully in their safety and soundness. We simply cannot afford to have more oil spills, and SB 559 provides an immediate pathway towards shutting these offshore oil platforms down. Thank you to my colleagues in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee for their support of SB 559,” he argued.
The Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups are supporting the legislation.