BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 900|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 900
Author: Jackson (D), et al.
Amended: 8/19/16
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 8-1, 3/29/16
AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning,
Vidak, Wolk
NOES: Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 32-5, 6/1/16
AYES: Allen, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De
León, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg,
Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Nguyen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Vidak,
Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Gaines, Moorlach, Morrell, Stone
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller, Nielsen, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-2, 8/24/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: State lands: coastal hazard removal and remediation
program
SOURCE: California State Controller Betty Yee
DIGEST: This bill establishes a coastal hazard remediation
program at the State Lands Commission (SLC).
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Page 2
Assembly Amendments reduce from $2 million to $500,000 the
annual amount transferred from the Land Bank Fund to the SLC,
and requires the SLC to prioritize its actions pursuant to this
bill based on available resources.
ANALYSIS: Existing law establishes the SLC pursuant to Public
Resources Code Section 6101 et seq., as an independent
commission comprised of the Lieutenant Governor, the State
Controller, and the Director of Finance. It was established in
1938. The SLC manages the state's 4 million acres of tidelands
and submerged lands and the beds of navigable rivers, streams,
lakes, bays, estuaries, inlets, and straits. In the marine
context, the SLC has broad authority over sovereign lands
including rivers and sloughs, lakes, tidelands, and submerged
lands. It also manages energy and mineral resource development
through leases, has an oil spill prevention program at marine
oil terminals and offshore platforms, and has an invasive
species prevention program from large ocean-going vessels.
This bill:
1)Requires SLC, within two years of an appropriation of funds,
to administer the program to do the following:
a) Complete an in-depth inventory of legacy (i.e.,
abandoned) oil and gas wells and other coastal hazards
along the California coastline and determine high-priority
hazards and legacy oil and gas wells to remediate;
b) Survey, study, and monitor oil seepage in state waters
and tidelands under its jurisdiction to determine oil
seepage locations, rates, and environmental impacts; and,
c) Begin the process of remediating improperly abandoned
legacy oil and gas wells that have a high risk of leaking
oil and, with any remaining funds, remove other identified
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Page 3
coastal hazards.
2)Authorizes SLC to seek and accept gifts, bequests, devises, or
donations to fund the program.
3)Authorizes SLC, in cooperation with the Division of Oil, Gas,
and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), to seek to abandon (properly
close) legacy oil and gas wells that present a hazard to
public health and safety and the environment.
4)Requires SLC to annually report to the Legislature the
activities and accomplishments of the program.
5)Requires SLC to prioritize its actions undertaken pursuant to
this bill based on available resources.
6)Defines the following terms:
a) "Coastal hazard" includes, but is not limited to, legacy
oil and gas wells and human-made structures, including
piers, jetties, groins, seawalls, and facilities associated
with past oil extraction and other commercial operations,
that pose a hazard to the public heath and safety; and,
b) "Legacy oil and gas well" as a well drilled near shore,
before current abandonment standards, where there is little
or no information on the well's abandonment procedure and
there is no viable company with the responsibility to
reabandon the well, should it start leaking or pose a
threat to the environment or the public health and safety.
7)Transfers $500,000 from the Land Bank Fund annually to the SLC
for the implementation of the program.
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8)States legislative findings regarding legacy oil and gas wells
and their impacts.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the
redirection of $500,000 from the GF to the Land Bank Fund in FY
2017-18 and up to $500,000 per year thereafter to ensure the
unencumbered funds in the Land Bank Fund are available to the
SLC for program implementation. One-time SLC cost of
approximately $100,000 to complete the in-depth inventory of
legacy wells from the Land Bank Fund. Annual SLC costs of
approximately $50,000 to survey and monitor oil seepage and
annual SLC costs of approximately $200,000 to remove coastal
hazards also from the Land Bank Fund. Unknown costs to the
Land Bank Fund to plug and abandon legacy wells, potentially in
the $1 million per well range if the well is in the tidal zone.
DOGGR costs are absorbable
SUPPORT: (Verified8/17/16)
California State Controller Betty Yee (source)
Azul
Black Surfers Collective
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Coastal Protection Network
California League of Conservation Voters
California State Lands Commission
Center for Biological Diversity
Clean Water Action
Committee for Green Foothills
Defenders of Wildlife
Endangered Habitats League
Environment California
Environmental Defense Center
Environmental Working Group
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Get Oil Out!
GREENSPACE
Cambria Land Trust
Heal the Ocean
League of Women Voters of California
Natural Resources Defense Council
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara Women's Political Committee
Save the Bay
Sierra Club California
Smith River Alliance
Surfrider Foundation
The Ocean Foundation
The Otter Project
Trust for Public Land
WILDCOAST
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/17/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: California State Controller Betty Yee is
the sponsor of the bill. Along with the other supporters, she is
quite concerned by the fact that the SLC estimates that there
are approximately 200 "legacy" oil wells in California, the
majority of which are in Santa Barbara County near Summerland
and Ellwood beaches and along the Central Coast. Controller Yee
is joined by in support by the SLC, the County of Santa Barbara,
and Supervisor Salud Carbajal.
The SLC, Controller Yee, and many of the other supporters are
also actively in support of the in-depth study of coastal
hazards, the removal of other coastal hazards unrelated to oil
and gas production, and the monitoring of "natural seepage."
The SLC pointed out that drilling activity on tidelands occurred
before the process was regulated and that there was little if
any oversight of abandoned activities. Also, early coastal
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protective structures, such as seawalls and groins, have
deteriorated and are now public safety hazards. In both cases,
because there are no identifiable responsible parties, the State
of California is responsible for removing and remediating these
hazards.
The SLC argues that it has a good track record of removing and
remediating coastal hazards when funding is provided.
Sierra Club California states that while the visual
infrastructure of old oil operations has been removed, many of
these wells were not properly capped, causing fresh oil to foul
the ocean and beaches on a regular basis. Additionally, it notes
that the Refugio oil spill in 2015 highlighted the state's lack
of reliable data on the amount of natural oil seepage in state
waters which underscores the importance of the study and
monitoring provision regarding natural seepage that is in the
bill.
Many of these same points are also made by the other nonprofit
conservation groups that are in support, including Heal the
Ocean, the Environmental Defense Center, Get Oil Out!, and the
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-2, 8/24/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Rendon
NOES: Grove, Harper
NO VOTE RECORDED: Daly, Gordon
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Prepared by:William Craven / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
8/25/16 17:34:49
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