HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 19-7172 (OPPOSING OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING)
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RESOLUTION NO. 19-7172
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF HERMOSA BEACH,
CALIFORNIA, TO PROTECT THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA FROM
OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS DRILLING AND EXPLORATION, AND
OPPOSE PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER 13795 TITLED
“IMPLEMENTING AN AMERICA-FIRST OFFSHORE ENERGY
STRATEGY,” WHICH ESTABLISHES A POLICY TO ENCOURAGE
ENERGY EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION ON THE OUTER
CONTINENTAL SHELF
WHEREAS, the City of Hermosa Beach and its visitors enjoy California’s beaches and the
Pacific Ocean for recreational, commercial, and educational activities, all of which support our local
economy; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Hermosa Beach’s residents value our state’s ocean and coastal waters,
which provide habitat to a vast array of wildlife, including fish, whales, sea turtles, and birds that
depend on a healthy and clean environment; and,
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Interior’s 2017-2022 National Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program adopted as of November 18, 2016 contained no new proposed
offshore oil and gas drilling or leases along the Pacific Coast; and;
WHEREAS, on April 28, 2017, the President of the United States issued Executive Order
13795 titled “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy,” which establishes a policy to
encourage energy exploration and production on the OCS, and directed the U.S. Department of the
Interior to develop a new National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024 to replace the
2017-2022 program; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Executive Order is to facilitate offshore oil and gas
development in federal waters and its basis is that oil and gas development ushers in economic growth
and job creation and bolsters national security; and
WHEREAS, on January 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM) published a 2019-2024 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed
Program (DPP) that would replace the 2017-2022 Program and potentially expand offshore oil and gas
leasing to new areas which have been largely off-limits to new federal leasing, including the Pacific
Coast and the U.S. Arctic; and;
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WHEREAS, the City of Hermosa Beach is opposed to inclusion of any offshore drilling tracts
in any OCS Planning Area on the Pacific Coast in the pending revised 2019-2024 Draft Proposed
Program and any other future National Programs, and;
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Interior has failed to comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), and relevant local land use provisions in considering said Draft Proposed
Program (DPP), and further, has failed to conduct and heed the duly-required consultations with
affected governors, local governments, tribes, and other stakeholders as required under existing law;
and
WHEREAS, offshore oil and gas drilling and exploration off the Pacific Coast puts these
coastal resources, and the communities and industries that depend on them, at risk from oil spills and
other damage; and,
WHEREAS, a massive oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara resulting from offshore
oil drilling operations fouled coastal waters and caused catastrophic economic and environmental
damage; and,
WHEREAS, in May 2015 a pipeline transporting oil sourced from offshore oil platforms
ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County and spilled oil into the Pacific Ocean with
oil and tar balls reaching as far south as Orange County, including Hermosa Beach, damaging wildlife,
closing beaches, and impacting recreational and commercial activities; and,
WHEREAS, Contrary to the Executive Order, California and State Commissions continue to
pioneer clean, renewable energy, recognizing that instead of prioritizing new oil and gas development,
the Nation can thrive by championing renewable energy, which creates, jobs, bolsters the economy,
and protects the coastline, resources, and marine wildlife from a catastrophic oil spill; and
WHEREAS, California has spent decades laying a foundation for the green economy and
renewable energy, including establishing targets to increase retail sales of renewable electricity to 50
percent by 2030, and doubling the energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by
2030; and
WHEREAS, California leads the nation in reducing carbon pollution and recently enacted
legislation requiring statewide greenhouse gas emissions to be 40 percent below the 1990 level by
2030; and
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WHEREAS, opening new areas off the Pacific coast to offshore drilling will deepen the state’s
dependence on fossil fuels and undermine its efforts to address climate change by reducing greenhouse
gas emissions and moving toward renewable energy; and,
WHEREAS, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr’s Executive Order B-30-15 acknowledges the
threat of climate change to the health and well-being of humans and natural resources, highlights
California’s efforts to achieve significant emission reductions by 2050, and directs State government
to implement Safeguarding California, California’s climate adaptation plan; and
WHEREAS, shifting away from fossil fuel dependency and increasing the State’s renewable
energy portfolio is a key strategy to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, action to combat climate change works in concert with economic growth, and as
California has shown, renewable energy creates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, per unit of
energy produced, and per dollar of investment compared to energy production from fossil fuels; and
WHEREAS, California is a founding member of the International Alliance to Combat Ocean
Acidification, which brings governmental and affiliate members together to identify, coordinate, and
expand meaningful and timely actions to combat ocean acidification and limit other climate change-
driven changes to the world’s oceans, and the Alliance highlights the urgency of reducing greenhouse
emissions and other causes of ocean acidification as well as implementing actions to adapt to and raise
awareness of climate change-driven changes to the ocean; and
WHEREAS, California has made significant social and financial investments to create the
nation’s first science-based network of marine protected areas to protect marine life and habitats for
current and future generations, and covering 16 percent of state waters, California’s network safeguards
ecosystems and economic activities that rely on a healthy ocean—including tourism and commercial
fishing—and supports the state’s thriving $44 billion ocean economy; and
WHEREAS, the Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy Executive Order
requires the Secretary of Commerce to review a 2016 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration guidance document that assesses the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine
mammal hearing for consistency with the Order’s policy of encouraging oil and gas development, and
rescind or revise this guidance if appropriate; and
WHEREAS, sound, and marine mammals, know no political boundaries—activities occurring
beyond California’s three-mile boundary in federal waters can influence and impact protected marine
mammal species that use State waters to feed, breed, and migrate, and this Order may undermine
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federal and state protections and expose marine mammals to injurious noise levels that could have
population-level impacts; and
WHEREAS, the City of Hermosa Beach rejects the premise that encouraging energy
exploration and production on the OCS is necessary to maintain the Nation's position as a global energy
leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people; and
WHEREAS, new federal offshore oil and gas leases have not been granted off the coast of
California since 1984; and,
WHEREAS, the state of California prohibited new oil and gas leasing in state waters due to
the unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment; and,
WHEREAS, the Governor of California, the Attorney General, the State Senate and Assembly,
the California State Lands Commission, Coastal Commission, Fish and Game Commission, along with
over 70 California cities and counties, have taken a stand against new federal offshore oil and gas leases
in the Pacific Ocean; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Hermosa Beach adopted PLAN Hermosa in 2017, the City's first
general plan update since 1979 that presents a 25-year vision for a Sustainable and Low Carbon Future
for Hermosa Beach; and,
WHEREAS, on January 23, 2018, the City Council of the City of Hermosa Beach approved a
letter of support for State Assembly Bill 1775 and Senate Bill 834, thereafter signed into law on
September 9, 2018 by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr, to prohibit the State Lands Commission and
local trustees from entering into new lease agreements for exploration or production of oil or gas in
state regulated coastal waters, up to three miles from the coastline.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HERMOSA BEACH,
CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
That the City of Hermosa Beach:
1. Opposes new leases for oil and gas activities off the coast of California and in all other U.S.
waters.
2. Supports a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling, fracking, and related techniques in federal
and state waters off the California coast.
3. The City Clerk is hereby directed to transmit a copy of this Resolution to Secretary of the
Interior David Bernhardt, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Acting Director Walter
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Cruickshank, Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris;
U.S. Representative Ted Lieu, State Senator Ben Allen, State Assemblymember Al
Muratsuchi and any other interested parties.
This Resolution shall take effect immediately. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and
adoption of this Resolution, shall cause the original of the same to be entered among the original
resolutions of the City Council, and shall make a minute of the passage and adoption thereof in
the minutes of the City Council meeting at which the same is passed and adopted.
PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this 23rd day of April, 2019.
________________________________________________________________________
PRESIDENT of the City Council and MAYOR of the City of Hermosa Beach, California
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
________________________________ _______________________________
City Clerk City Attorney