BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2678
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 2678 (Ridley-Thomas) - As Introduced: February 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Oil spills: Oil Spill Technical Advisory Committee
SUMMARY : Requires the Governor to appoint a faculty member of
the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis (WHC) or
the director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) to the
Oil Spill Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Deletes the
requirement that the Governor appoint a person to the TAC who
has worked in state government.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR)
within the Department of Fish and Wildlife and requires it to
administer the state's oil spill prevention and preparedness
program, which includes, among other things, announced and
unannounced oil spill drills, review and approval of oil spill
contingency plans, and local government response training and
grants.
2)Creates the TAC to provide public input and independent
judgment of the actions of OSPR. Requires the TAC to consist
of 10 members. Requires the appointments to be made in the
following manner:
a) The Governor shall appoint six members:
i) One person who has demonstrable knowledge of marine
transportation;
ii) One person who has served as a local government
elected official or who has worked for a local
government;
iii) One person who has experience in oil spill response
and prevention programs;
iv) One person who has been employed in the petroleum
industry;
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v) One person who has worked in state government; and
vi) One person who has demonstrable knowledge of the dry
cargo vessel industry.
b) The Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules
Committee shall each appoint two members: one person who is
a representative of the public and one person who has
demonstrable knowledge of environmental protection and the
study of ecosystems.
3)Mandates the TAC to meet as often as required, but at least
twice per year.
4)Requires the TAC to provide recommendations to OSPR, the State
Lands Commission (SLC), the California Coastal Commission, and
the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
on the state's oil spill program, including the promulgation
of all rules, regulations, guidelines, and policies.
5)Authorizes the TAC, at its own discretion, to study, comment
on, or evaluate, any aspect of oil spill prevention and
response in the state.
6)Requires the TAC to report biennially to the Governor and the
Legislature on its evaluation of oil spill response and
preparedness programs within the state and may prepare and
send any additional reports it determines to be appropriate to
the Governor and the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : In the wake of the March 24,1989 Exxon Valdez oil
spill in Alaska (which spilled approximately 11 million gallons
of crude oil) and the February 7, 1990 American Trader oil spill
near Huntington Beach (which spilled approximately 300,000
gallons of crude oil), the Legislature passed the
Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act
(Oil Spill Act). The overall purpose of the Oil Spill Act is to
prevent and clean up oil spills and to restore damage to the
environment. OSPR and SLC are vested with the primary
responsibility for implementing the Oil Spill Act.
One component of the Oil Spill Act was the creation of the TAC.
The TAC provides public input and independent review and
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evaluation of the actions of OSPR. The TAC consists of ten
members, six of whom are appointed by the Governor, two by the
Speaker of the Assembly, and two by the Senate Rules Committee.
The membership must have background in marine transportation,
local government, oil spill response and prevention programs,
the petroleum industry, state government, environmental
protection and ecosystems, and the dry cargo vessel industry.
Pursuant to its by-laws, TAC members serve until they are either
replaced by the appointing authority, a member resigns, or a
member is asked for their resignation after a vote of at least
two-thirds of the appointed TAC members.
Since 2003, the TAC has been required to report biennially to
the Governor and the Legislature on its evaluation of oil spill
prevention and response within the state. The TAC may also
prepare and send any additional reports it determines to be
appropriate to the Governor and the Legislature.
The TAC meets at least on a quarterly basis throughout the year.
All TAC meetings are open to the public pursuant to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and portions of each meeting are
devoted to public input on any issue affecting California's oil
spill programs.
This bill amends the TAC statutes by replacing the requirement
that the Governor appoint a person who has worked in state
government with the requirement that the Governor appoint a
person who is a faculty member of the WHC or the director of the
OWCN. It is unclear why this bill is necessary since the
vice-chair of the WHC currently sits on the TAC, with her
alternate being the director of the OWCN.
The Governor currently has a budget proposal to strengthen the
state's oil spill program with regard to inland oil spills. The
impetus for the Governor's proposal is connected to the recent,
dramatic increase in the amount of oil transported to the state
by rail, which will grow steeply in the next ten years due to
the hydraulic fracturing boom in other areas of the country
(particularly North Dakota with its Bakken oil shale formation).
The possible routes for trains carrying oil into the state are
located along and through several waterways and most of the
state's major metropolitan areas. The potential for train
accidents and oil spills in these areas has created a heightened
level of public anxiety, especially in light of several tragic
oil-by-rail accidents in both the US and Canada during the last
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year.
Some of these anxieties are illustrated by a recent lawsuit
filed by environmental groups and environmental justice
organizations against an oil-by-rail operation in Richmond,
California. The complaint targets a specific oil-by-rail
operation that "brings highly volatile and explosive North
Dakotan Bakken crude oil to Bay Area refineries in the same
?[type of] trains that derailed last July and exploded, killing
nearly fifty people and decimating half the downtown area of
Lac-M�gantic, Qu�bec." The complaint raises concerns about the
risks to the project's surroundings, which consist of "working
class communities of color, where residents already bear a
disproportionate share of environmental harms?from the nearby
Chevron refinery?[and other industrial activities] in the area."
In light of the emerging oil-by-rail issue and concerns by the
public, it seems appropriate that the TAC consist of members who
bring an inland environmental and environmental justice
perspective. As such, the author and committee may wish to
consider amendments that require the Governor to appoint to the
TAC one person who represents an environmental group with an
interest in protecting inland natural resources from oil spills
and one person who represents an environmental justice group
concerned about the risk of oil-by-rail accidents in
underrepresented communities .
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Western States Petroleum Association (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092