Two bills coauthored by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) in the early wake of the Refugio State Beach oil spill passed out of committee on June 29.
Senate Bill 414, which moved on with an 8-1 vote, is aimed at speeding up oil spill response. The main provision’s a program by which fishing vessels can become paid contractors licensed to respond immediately to an oil spill.
“We know that if we’d had a more comprehensive approach to oil spill cleanup, we could have responded up to six hours sooner to the recent spill off Refugio State Beach,” Jackson said.
SB 414, still in the process of drafting, will now move to the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
SB 788 passed out of committee 7-2 that week as well. It aims to plug a loophole by which new drilling leases might be issued for the untapped mother lode of the Tranquillion Ridge, a protected area rich in oil off the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The State Lands Commission stopped leasing drilling sites years ago. The Tranquillon Ridge is in a state Marine Protected Area. But Public Resources Code 6244 says that the state is still allowed to issue new leases for it.
In 2009, several environmental groups came close to a landmark deal with oil company PXP to drill Tranquillon in exchange for a huge host of environmental concessions. That effort was shot down by the State Lands Commission.
SB 788 now moves on to the appropriations committee.
This article appears in Jul 2-9, 2015.
