HomeMy WebLinkAbout18-73 - Opposing Presidential Executive Order 13795RESOLUTION NO. 18-73
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA,
OPPOSING PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER 13795, ENTITLED IMPLEMENTING AN
AMERICA -FIRST OFFSHORE ENERGY STRATEGY, WHICH ESTABLISHES A POLICY
TO ENCOURAGE ENERGY EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION ON THE OUTER
CONTINENTAL SHELF
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA DOES HEREBY
RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
WHEREAS, the City of Costa Mesa and its residents and visitors enjoy California's
beaches and the Pacific Ocean for recreational, commercial, and educational activities, all of
which support our local economy including an estimated amount of nine million dollars in
tourism sales tax funding; and
WHEREAS, the City of Costa Mesa'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, 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 fouled coastal
waters and caused catastrophic economic and environmental damage; and
WHEREAS, in May 2015, a pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa
Barbara County and spilled oil into the Pacific Ocean with oil reaching as far south as Orange
County, damaging wildlife, closing beaches, and impacting recreational and commercial
activities; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Interior's 2017-2022 Five -Year Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS) Leasing Program adopted as of November 18, 2016 contained no proposed
offshore drilling along the Pacific Coast; and
WHEREAS, on April 28, 2017, the President of the United States issued Executive Order
13795, entitled Implementing an America -First Offshore Energy Strategy, which establishes a
policy to encourage energy exploration and production on the OCS and restarts the 2017-2022
five-year lease sales program, potentially opening up Arctic waters and millions of coastal acres
off U.S. shores to oil and gas drilling; and
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 1 of 6
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, the Executive Order restarts the five-year oil and gas leasing program for
OCS areas, and, while it is focused on the Arctic, the five-year program covers the entire OCS
planning area, including the Pacific OCS; and
WHEREAS, the existing five-year oil and gas leasing program for 2017 through 2022
excludes lease sales in the Pacific or Atlantic OCS areas, and the Executive Order short circuits
that program; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Executive Order, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM) is proposing an expanded Five -Year OCS Leasing Program for
the years 2019-2024, which would replace the 2017-2022 program; and
WHEREAS, the draft proposed program for 2019-2024 includes 47 new potential
leases, including six (6) in California; and
WHEREAS, the City of Costa Mesa is opposed to inclusion of any offshore drilling tracts
in any OCS planning area on the Pacific Coast in the pending 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 (OCSLAA), 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, contrary to the Executive Order, the State of 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
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 2 of 6
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
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 Ocean Acidification
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
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 3 of 6
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 federal and state protections and expose marine mammals to injurious
noise levels that could have population -level impacts; and
WHEREAS, the City of Costa Mesa rejects the President's 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, hydraulic fracturing and other unconventional oil extraction techniques
such as acid fracturing, matrix acidizing, gravel packing and cyclic steam injection, collectively
referred to here as "fracking and other well stimulation," provide another means to expand
offshore oil and gas extraction off California's coast; and
WHEREAS, fracking and other well stimulation increase pollution and the risk of oil
spills and earthquakes; and
WHEREAS, the offshore oil industry is permitted to dump more than 9 billion gallons
of wastewater into the Pacific every year including wastewater from fracking that may be
laced with toxic chemicals that can harm human health and wildlife; and
WHEREAS, the State of California prohibits new oil and gas leasing in State waters due
to the unacceptably high risk of damage and disruption to the marine environment; and
WHEREAS, on September 8, 2018, the Governor of California signed into law Assembly
Bill 1775 and Senate Bill 834, which prohibit the State Lands Commission or local trustees from
granting leases for new pipelines and infrastructure and from entering into new lease
agreements, or renewing, expanding, or modifying existing agreements that would result in
increased oil or natural gas production from federal waters; and
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 4 of 6
WHEREAS, the Governor of California, the Attorney General, the State Legislature, the
State Lands Commission, the California Coastal Commission, and the California Fish and
Game Commission, along with over 50 cities and counties, have taken a stand against new
federal offshore oil and gas leases in the Pacific Ocean.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa
that the City of Costa Mesa:
1. Opposes new leases for oil and gas activities off the coast of California.
2. Opposes Executive Order 13795 — Implementing an America -First Offshore
Energy Strategy, which establishes a policy to encourage energy exploration and
production on the Outer Continental Shelf.
3. Opposes new federal oil and gas leasing in U.S. waters, including the coast of
California.
4. Supports prohibiting new federal oil and gas leasing off the Pacific Coast.
5. Supports a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling, fracking, and related
techniques in federal and state waters off of the coast of California.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 16th day of October, 2018.
Sandra L. Genis, Mayor
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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Brenda Gr n, City Clerk Thomas Du rte, City Attorney
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 5 of 6
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss
CITY OF COSTA MESA )
I, BRENDA GREEN, City Clerk of the City of Costa Mesa, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that
the above and foregoing is the original of Resolution No. 18-73 and was duly passed and
adopted by the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa at a regular meeting held on the 16th day
of October, 2018, by the following roll call vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Foley, Stephens, Genis
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Righeimer
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Mansoor
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereby set my hand and affixed the seal of the City of
Costa Mesa this 17th day of October, 2018.
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Brenda GreeW, City Clek
Resolution No. 18-73 Page 6 of 6