SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Facing fierce opposition from California’s powerful oil industry and trade unions, legislation to close down operations on three offshore oil rigs off the Orange County coast failed Thursday to win passage in a state Senate committee, seven months after a major spill fouled the beaches and wetlands around Huntington Beach.
Senate Bill 953 would have allowed the State Lands Commission to terminate offshore oil leases by the end of 2024 if the agency was unable to negotiate voluntary buyouts with the petroleum companies operating the oil platforms. The legislation focused solely on the three oil leases in state waters adjacent to Orange County, not the 23 oil rigs in federal waters along the rest of California’s coastline.
The measure was introduced by state Sen. Dave Min, a Democrat, after an October oil spill off Huntington Beach dumped an estimated 25,000 gallons into the ocean. Investigators suspect it was caused by a cargo ship anchor that snagged a 17-mile-long pipeline stretching from an oil platform that operates in federal waters to the Port of Long Beach.
