CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA

CITY COUNCIL
Staff Report

February 6, 2018
CONSENT AGENDA

TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members

SUBMITTED BY: Tom Graves, MMC - City Clerk

APPROVED BY: Chip Rerig, City Administrator

Resolution No. 2018-014, Opposing Offshore Oil Drilling, Exploration and Fracking.
SUBJECT:

RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt Resolution No. 2018-014, Opposing Offshore Drilling, Exploration and Fracking.

BACKGROUND/SUMMARY:
Note: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Draft Policy is too large to be included in the packet
at almost 400 pages, but it can be accessed in Google Drive , or at the Federal website . We will also print out a
copy for public review to be kept at the Reception Desk at City Hall. For interested members of the public, the
federal website URL is: https://www.boem.gov/National-Program/
After the President announced plans to expand future oil and gas leasing to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, as
well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico, offering the largest number of potential offshore lease sales ever
proposed, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that Florida was being removed from the Trump
administration’s new draft five-year program (2019-2024) for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS).
As of today, opposition and concern over offshore drilling activities includes:
-Governors of Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, California, Oregon and Washington

-More than 150 East and West Coast municipalities

-Over 1,200 local, state and federal bipartisan officials

-An alliance representing over 41,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families

-The New England, South and Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils

-Commercial and recreational fishing interests such as the Southeastern Fisheries Association, Fisheries
Survival Fund, Southern Shrimp Alliance, The Billfish Foundation and the International Game Fish Association

-California Fish and Game Commission, California Coastal Commission, California State Lands Commission
 and California Senate

-DOD and the Florida Defense Support Task Force

The draft plan (attached as Exhibit A) is the result of President Trump’s executive order on offshore energy in
April 2017, which directed DOI to encourage offshore drilling. The public has until March 9, 2018 to comment
on the draft proposed program, which is the first of two opportunities for public comment on the plan.
Mayor Dallas has requested inclusion of this item on the Council agenda for consideration.

FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A

PRIOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION:

None.
ATTACHMENTS:

Resolution No. 2018-14

 RESOLUTION NO. 2018-014 Attachment 1

RESOLUTION URGING PROTECTION OF OUR OCEAN AND COAST FROM OFFSHORE

DRILLING, EXPLORATION AND FRACKING

WHEREAS, our city’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, the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea and its visitors enjoy California’s beaches and the Pacific
Ocean for recreational, commercial, and educational activities, all of which support our local economy; and

WHEREAS, offshore oil and gas drilling and exploration off the Pacific coast put these coastal
resources, and the communities and industries that depend on them, at risk from oil spills and other damage; and

WHEREAS, expanding offshore oil and gas drilling, fracking and other well stimulation techniques
threatens coastal stakeholders, marine wildlife, human health and climate; 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 2015 a pipeline servicing offshore oil platforms burst and fouled the same coastal areas,
damaging wildlife and impacting recreational and commercial activities; and

WHEREAS, the Trump administration is considering expanding offshore oil and gas leasing to new
areas which have largely been off-limits to new federal leasing, including the Pacific Coast; and

WHEREAS, new federal offshore oil and gas leases have not been granted off the coast of California
since 1984; 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, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is considering an
expanded Five-Year OCS Leasing Program for the years 2019-2024 and is soliciting public comments on the
anticipated Draft Proposed Program (DPP), in response to which this resolution is hereby submitted, and;
WHEREAS, the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea is opposed to inclusion of any offshore drilling tracts in any OCS
Planning Area on the Pacific Coast in the pending 2019-2024 DPP and any other future National Programs, 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
 Resolution No. 2018-014 Attachment 1
Adopted February 6, 2018

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, the Governor of California, the Attorney General, the State Senate, the State Lands
Commission, along with many cities, have taken a stand against new federal offshore oil and gas leases in
the Pacific Ocean, and many municipalities have called for a ban on offshore fracking; and
WHEREAS, expanding offshore drilling, fracking and other well stimulation off the California
coast 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;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea supports (1) a ban
on new offshore oil and gas drilling, fracking, and other well stimulation in federal and state waters off
the California coast, and (2) no new federal oil and gas leasing in all U.S. waters, including off the coast
of California.
The City shall forward a copy of this Resolution to Secretary Zinke; Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management Acting Director Walter Cruickshank; Governor Brown; U. S. Senators Feinstein
and Harris; U.S. Representative Panetta; State Senator Monning; and State Representative Stone.

PASSED AND ADOPTED this 6th day of February 2018, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

DISQUALIFIED:

APPROVED: _________________________ ATTEST: _________________________

Steve G. Dallas, Mayor Thomas A. Graves, MMC
City Clerk