2022 Legislative Campaign to End Oil Drilling Off the California Coast
The devastating October 3rd Huntington Beach oil spill, which spewed up to 126,000 gallons along the Orange County coastline, and the subsequent leaking from the pipeline on November 20th, once again highlight the urgent need to end offshore oil production in California.
The three platforms, Eva and Emmy in Huntington Beach and Esther off Seal Beach, installed between 1963 and 1985, have operated beyond their intended lifespan and pose an ongoing risk to our coast. And that risk more than doubles as pipelines age from 20 to 40 years.
The spill, which came from a pipeline carrying oil from Platform Elly, closed fisheries and beaches and oiled sensitive wetlands and killed countless marine mammals, fish, and birds. The spill showed just how vulnerable our coast is to the risks of offshore drilling.
The ocean is part of California’s values and identity, as a result business thrives along our beautiful coastline and beaches. California’s ocean economy is valued at $45 billion annually and provides 500,000 jobs in recreation, hotels, restaurants, charter boats, guide businesses, and gear shops. This ocean economy depends on clean water and air that offshore drilling threatens.
These three platforms provide a very small amount of oil and a small number of jobs. Two are owned by Texas companies and the third by Southern California Holding. Despite the California Legislature finding in 1994 that offshore oil and gas production “poses an unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment of the state,” these three offshore oil and gas platforms in California waters continue to operate and still remain a threat.
With this initial spill and continued leakage, we know that if we don’t decommission the oil infrastructure off our coastline, it is only a matter of “when”, not “if” the next big spill happens! In fact, it is being reported that the safeguards for leaking oil pipes off the OC coast are not fully working.
For all these crucial reasons, our group, Social Compassion in Legislation has teamed up with Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) and other committed California lawmakers, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other environmental organizations to pass legislation in 2022 which will close these three remaining free standing oil platforms in state waters and lay the path to end offshore oil drilling and production in California. Our public campaign and legislative effort will need additional partners and support.
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Oil companies and their allies will fight hard and dirty to continue business as usual off our shores. Despite California’s offshore drilling representing only one tenth of 1% of our nation’s oil production, we anticipate an onslaught of propaganda claiming that this will create energy insecurity and move our energy dollars to foreign nations.
We Need Your Voice!
In order to beat Big Oil, we’ll need your voice and support to let our political representatives in Sacramento know that the time is NOW to end offshore drilling. Many environmental allies and the environmental warrior, Jane Fonda, just raised their voices at our press conference. With them and Jane already in our corner, we have the momentum to finally get rid of these oil platforms.
We Can’t Do It Without Your Help!
We have assembled the best team of professional advocates in California and Sacramento to implement a strategy that will effectively counter the lies we will hear from Big Oil. With leading environmental organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity and other partners, we have the core team to battle the oil industry. The last piece is YOU!
With the recent COP26 proposals and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on the state of the climate being referred to as a “Code Red for Humanity,” it is imperative that we end our worldwide addiction to fossil fuels. California’s oil is some of the most difficult and expensive to extract, meaning that it results in even more greenhouse gas emissions. End offshore drilling off the coast of California is the logical first step to a clean energy future.
Please sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date and receive action alerts on when and how to let your elected representatives know they must end offshore oil production off our coasts and when you can join meetings and key events. And please consider joining our team and donating now. We need you!
