COAST CITIES — The Encinitas and Solana Beach city councils added their names to the list of cities and counties opposed to the Trump administration’s plans to open up areas in the Pacific Ocean to new offshore oil drilling and expansion.
Elected officials in both cities approved resolutions opposing gas and oil drilling off the California Coast, following through on statements made by both cities’ mayors last week that they would consider taking up such opposition in coming days.
Encinitas officials voted 5-0 in favor of the measure on the consent calendar. Solana Beach voted 4-1 with Mayor Ginger Marshall voting against it.
According to the Encinitas staff report, the presidential administration’s actions run counter to the city’s stated goals of pursuing renewable energy, which it memorialized last week with the approval of its climate action plan.
“This action also promotes dependence on fossil fuels, which is contrary to actions taken by the City and the State of California to promote a greener, more sustainable lifestyle through the utilization of alternative energy sources,” according to the staff report. “It is also contrary to Council’s 2018 Legislative Priorities of supporting environmental sustainability, and supporting ecosystem enhancing legislation, and is also contrary to the goals of the City’s Climate Action Plan, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emission.”
According to the staff report, Laguna Beach and Santa Barbara adopted similar resolutions.
Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke announced plans Jan. 4 to make more than 90 percent of the total Outer Continental Shelf acreage available to consider for future exploration and development, a dramatic departure from longstanding policy that kept almost all of the acreage off limits.
No new leases have been issued in federal waters since 1984 or in California state waters since 1969 — the year of the large oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Meanwhile, Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Kristin Gaspar’s office said the supervisor will be attending a rally on Feb. 3 at Belmont Park regarding offshore drilling and is considering bringing a resolution to the board opposing drilling.
The story has been updated to correct the result of the Solana Beach City Council vote on the resolution. The vote was 4-1.
2 comments
Not quite correct – in Solana Beach the item was pulled from the consent calendar and was discussed. Unfortunately for rather unfounded reasons the action was not supported by one member – Mayor Ginger Marshall. The good news is there was wholehearted support from all members of the public who provided input as well as all of the other Councilmembers.
Thank you for the catch!
AB
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