A few weeks after oil spills off the coast of Orange County, City Council members on the coast of Huntington Beach and Laguna passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on Tuesday night.
During the meeting, Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said:
Members of the Huntington Beach City Council voted 5-1 in favor of a new ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling, drilling and other well drilling operations in federal and state waters.
The resolution calls for a new federal oil and gas lease on US waters.
§
Carr – who asked for a solution from Councilwoman Natalie Mosser – hopes the investigation will examine the security protocols surrounding the problem.
“It is very important to know that there are many security precautions that have not been taken, many corners that seem to have been cut off and many alarms that should have been turned off.” Carr said, thanking council and city staff for thinking ahead.
She said the importance of oil exploration in the city should be taken into consideration.
We currently earn about $ 16 million a year [Transient Occupancy Tax] We pay taxes on our tourism activities with hotels, ”said Carr. “And if you look at the revenue from oil fields outside our beautiful beaches, it doesn’t matter, we get less than $ 700,000 from Huntington Beach, oyster eggs and other oil activities. One year.”
The mayor acknowledged that oil still plays a role in the economy and said the city should look at alternative energy sources.
But not everyone agreed with the decision.
Council member Mike Pose was outraged and councilor Eric Peterson was not present.
“We have no authority. These lease contracts are awarded by the government or the US government, not Huntington Beach, ”said Posey, who is part of the Orange County Power Authority.
“As technology advances, demand for fossil fuels will decrease,” he said.
Councilwoman Barbara Delgeis opposed the idea, saying it was hurting the environment as everyone waited for the market to change.
“Now is the time to do better with the technology in the world,” she said.
Poseid feared that he would be prosecuted, and he feared that he would lose his job.
Other councilors and residents raised concerns about the economic impact of some businesses.
“Huntington has suffered a huge economic loss from this oil spill,” said Grant Bixby, a member of the Business Alliance to protect the combination of real estate brokers and the Pacific coast.
“The Paseya Hotel, the beach hotels are already on. [Pacific Coast Highway] It has seen huge losses and vacancies, and Pacific City and main street retailers have been affected, ”he said. “It will take time to recover and it will take time until we know the full extent.”
§
Many residents at Tuesday’s meeting called for a permanent ban on new offshore drilling – some said the city was fortunate with the worst damage.
“We were lucky with the amount of oil released, we were lucky that the beaches were closed for only eight days, we were lucky that the oil did not cause as much damage as possible. Richard Bush, coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation’s beach clean-up, could have been worse.
Representatives of other environmental groups spoke out in support of the ban on oil drilling in Bahir Dar.
“Beach drilling is dirty and dangerous and they leak when they dig. There is no excuse for our oceans to remain open for oil exploration after an oil spill, ”said Melissa Morris, a non-profit Oksina field representative.
Laguna Beach
Officials in Lagna and the coast are opposed to the excavation.
On Tuesday night, all members of the city council voted To approve a resolution opposing current and future oil and gas drilling in federal and state waters off the coast of California.
All five members of the House of Representatives signed a letter on October 7 calling for an end to offshore oil exploration, led by lawmakers Dave Min (De-Irvin) and Sen. Josh Newman (De-Fullerton).
“This will normalize what we have all discussed and what we have agreed to in the letter requesting to sign it,” said Mayor Bob Waln.
Min and Newman delegates to the Orange County Congress call for a complete halt to maritime drilling in federal waters.
The city held a news conference on Monday, with city, county and state officials, controversial actor and environmental activist Jane Fonda speaking in support of the ban.
The oil spill, which has forced more than 10,000 people to volunteer, has sparked controversy not only at the local level but also at the regional level.
In recent days, members of Congress have argued for a ban on maritime drilling, with some arguing that the ban would hurt the environment and increase energy prices.
Others say that a naval drill is a time bomb and that if it does not stop, it will leak.
On Monday, congressional hearings in Irvine called for an outcry from Orange County Democrats Mike Levine and Katie Porter to stop California beach drilling and stop taxing tax subsidies.
Hossam Eltar O.C. It is the voice of a reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
Angelina Hicks is the voice of OC News Intern. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or Twitter @ angelinahicks13.