HomeMy WebLinkAbout96-18 - Offshore Oil Drilling MoratoriumRESOLUTION NO. 96- is
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT
BEACH SUPPORTING RENEWAL OF THE OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING
MORATORIUM AND FEDERAL LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE LONG TERM
PROTECTION FROM OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING.
• WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Department
of Interior Appropriations will consider lifting the current nationwide ban on offshore oil
drilling along environmentally sensitive areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS);
and
WHEREAS, federal legislation has been introduced (HR 2241 and HR 2242),
which provides long term protection from future offshore oil drilling in sensitive
California waters; and
WHEREAS, technology does not exist to fully prevent, clean up, or contain oil
spills for the type of ocean and wind conditions that are present throughout the year in
the affected offshore waters adjacent to the California beaches; and
WHEREAS, coastal dependent tourism is a mainstay of the local economy in
the communities along the southern California coast, as well as other coastal areas in
California; and
WHEREAS, critical commercial fishery tracts would be impacted by the oil
drilling activities that would be permitted by this action, and that severe fishing conflicts
could be expected to occur; and
WHEREAS, estuaries and river mouths which serve as critical nursery and
food source habitats for commercial fish species would be in direct proximity to oil
drilling activities permitted by a lifting of the OCS drilling moratorium, and would
therefore be subject to significant adverse impacts in the event of a spill; and
• WHEREAS, the City of Newport Beach has traditionally taken a lead role in
opposition to offshore drilling proposals that could impact the Newport Beach
coastline.
•
LJ
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council that the City of
Newport Beach urges that the U.S. House of Representatives support HR 2241 and
HR 2242; and
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Subcommittee
on Department of Interior Appropriations include renewal of the moratoria on Outer
Continental Shelf oil drilling activities in environmentally sensitive coastal areas in this
year's House Interior Appropriations Bill.
ADOPTED this 26th
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
day of February 1996.
_V111 A p
MAYOR