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Attention All Boaters:

Long Beach projects could be jeopardized once bill limiting oil production goes into effect:

Senate Bill 1137, designed to protect oil-well neighbors, will drain Tidelands Operating Fund.

We ask all boat owners to join the MAC meeting on Thursday, February 9th at 6:30pm at the Long Beach Yacht Club to voice your opinion regarding Bill 1137. Please read the following background info published in the Grunion Gazzette:

By HARRY SALTZGAVER | [email protected] | Grunion Gazette

LONG BEACH

A recently passed state bill is designed to quickly reduce oil production, particularly near homes — but will also sap Long Beach of crucial revenue..

State Senate Bill 1137, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Sept. 16, was slated to go into effect Jan. 1. But that was put into question because of an initiative petition drive to put an item on the March 2024 ballot to overturn the legislation. That drive is backed by the oil industry.

But once in effect, the law could eliminate much of Long Beach’s oil revenue immediately, jeopardizing multiple projects, including one to buy circulation pumps and install them in Alamitos Bay, to protect water quality — and another to construct the Belmont Beach and Aquatic Center.

It would also mean the city’s plan to save money for oil well abandonment work would end, creating a potential $84 million liability, City Manager Tom Modica said in a recent memo. Unless other revenue sources can be found, that liability would have to be covered by the city’s general fund.

“We had planned to go to 2035 to cut oil production,” Modica said in an interview last week. “We have legal agreements in place, and are setting aside money to cover our costs for abandoning wells. We have to keep up with that.”

The city announced in late 2021 that it would end oil production by 2035, 10 years before the state deadline of 2045. But SB 1137 would mean significant reductions almost immediately.

The law’s restrictions, Modica said, would double the expected decline in oil production, from 6% a year naturally as the oil field depletes to 12% a year. In the 2022 fiscal year (from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30) offshore oil operations transferred $33,799,180 to the Tidelands Operating Fund.

PUBLISHED: January 1, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: January 18, 2023 at 10:31 a.m.

Download the Meeting Agenda:

You can download it in PDF form HERE.