After 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Orange County coastline, policymakers across the county and along the beaches spoke out against offshore drilling in California.

Now, the debate has reached Congress with proposed legislation to ban offshore drilling in California. Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) introduced a bill Feb. 9 that would cease oil production on California’s coast and require the State Lands Commission to terminate all remaining oil and gas leases in state waters by Dec. 31, 2023.

There are 11 actively producing offshore oil and gas leases in state waters. The legislation would not affect oil rigs in federal waters.

Senate Bill 953 comes after October’s oil spill when an undersea pipeline connected to drilling platforms off Orange County ruptured. The oil leaked onto sensitive beaches and wetlands, harming or killing local animal and marine life.

Among the hardest hit areas were California’s coastal wetlands and protected marshes, including the wetlands of Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica, as well as Talbert Marsh — a 25-acre, ecological reserve home to federally-protected species of birds and other wildlife.

“Sen. Min’s bill is a crucial response to the oil industry’s horrific record of spewing toxic pollution onto California’s beautiful, fragile coast,” Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a Feb. 9 statement. “Decade after decade, offshore drilling has fouled our beaches, poisoned our ocean and killed our wildlife. It’s time to get this dirty, dangerous and utterly reckless industry out of our coastal waters.”

The Center for Biological Diversity — a national, nonprofit conservation organization — sued the Joe Biden administration last month for failing to address the continued endangerment of marine life from the oil and gas drilling off California’s coast.

The lawsuit is specifically listed against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“Endangered whales and other marine life have faced oil spill after oil spill off California’s coast, and the federal government has failed to protect them,” Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center, said in a Jan. 26 statement. “These imperiled animals shouldn’t have to suffer and die because the oil industry is fouling our ocean waters. A robust, science-based analysis would show that drilling off California is just too risky to wildlife and our climate, and should be phased out quickly.”

On Dec. 15, 2021, Amplify Energy and its two subsidiaries, the Beta Offshore Company and the San Pedro Bay Pipeline, were indicted by a federal grand jury on one misdemeanor count of illegally discharging oil off the coast.

An investigation revealed that the company ignored eight different leak detection alarms over a 13-hour period. Workers shut off and restarted the pipeline after each alarm notified them of a potential spill, causing the crude oil to dump into the ocean.

The introduction of the bill also comes shortly after federal, state and local first responders officially conclude the spill’s clean-up and emergency response phase. October’s oil spill was California’s biggest since the Refugio oil spill in 2015, when a ruptured oil pipeline dumped more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto the coast, including at least 21,000 gallons that leaked into the ocean.

Min — along with local policy makers like Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Costa Mesa), Assemblywoman Janet Nguyen (R-Fountain Valley) and Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Clemente) — had previously voiced support for a decrease in local offshore drilling. 

Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, North Tustin, Orange, Portola Hills, Silverado Canyon, Tustin and Villa Park.

This is a developing story. Follow The Panther on social media and at www.thepanthernewspaper.org for updates.