California State Lands Commission Hearing on Offshore Oil Drilling (5 of 7)

In this clip (in order of appearance):
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, Chair, California State Lands Commission
Joe Geever, California Policy Coordinator, Surfrider Foundation
Louise Rishoff, District Director for Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica)
Linda Krop, Chief Counsel, Environmental Defense Center, representing Get Oil Out and Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County
Rudy Vietmeier, Sierra Club

Video by AGP Video.

SANTA MONICA The California State Lands Commission (SLC), the state agency responsible for approving new oil leases in California, today voted for a resolution to reject a Department of Finance proposal to bypass the SLC to permit oil drilling off the coast of California. Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, chair of the SLC, joined State Controller John Chiang in favor of the resolution, while commission member Tom Sheehy, Chief Deputy Director for the Department of Finance, did not cast a vote as he had to leave the hearing early due to a family emergency.

The State Lands Commission has had the authority to approve oil leases in California since 1937. A copy of the resolution is below.

This is a deliberate attempt to overturn the decision of this body, the State Lands Commission, a decision that was based on the finding that this proposal was not in the interests of the state, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi said. The proposed legislation gives the power to move forward the lease to the Department of Finance, not the legislature.

This is a blatant power grab; the Department of Finance deliberately misrepresented the level of political support behind this, said Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network. It was appalling to watch. They dont like the decision made by the State Lands Commission, but that is precisely why we have an independent commission.

The three-member State Lands Commission originally considered the request to lease land to the Plains Exploration & Production Company to expand drilling off the coast of California in late January, but Garamendi joined State Controller John Chiang in a two-to-one vote to defeat the proposal.

The new drilling proposal offers California a $100 million loan that must be repaid by forgiving future royalty payments to California. This is an incredibly reckless fiscal policy, added Garamendi, chair of- the California Commission for Economic Development. The cleanup costs for 2007s Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco exceeded $70 million, and that was a comparatively minor spill compared to whats possible. California should leave new oil production in the 20th century and reassert its leadership in renewable energy production.

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