ASSOCIATION OF BAY AREA GOVERNMENTS • THE BAY INSTITUTE • BLUE FRONTIER CAMPAIGN • CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL SCIENTISTS • CALIFORNIA COASTKEEPER ALLIANCE • CALIFORNIA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS • CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY • CENTER FOR OCEANIC AWARENESS, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION CLEAN WATER ACTION • CRAB BOAT OWNERS ASSOCIATION • DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE EAST BAY BIRD ADVOCATES • ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA • ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER • FARALLONES MARINE SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION • FRIENDS OF THE EARTH MARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL OCEAN CONSERVANCY • OCEAN CHAMPIONS • OCEAN CONSERVATION RESEARCH • OCEAN DEFENDERS ALLIANCE • OCEAN REVOLUTION • OCEANA • PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATIONS • PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT • SAVE OUR SHORES • SIERRA CLUB BAY AREA • SIERRA CLUB CALIFORNIA • SURFRIDER FOUNDATION • TURTLE ISLAND RESTORATION NETWORK • WATERWAYS RESTORATION INSTITUTE September 8, 2010 The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger Attn: Legislative Affairs; Request for Signature
California State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax (916) 558-3177 Re: AB 234 (Huffman) Oil spill prevention and response: transfer of oil – SUPPORT Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, and our millions of members and activists, we respectfully request that you sign AB 234 by Assemblymember Jared Huffman into law. On October 30, 2009, during a routine fuel transfer operation, the tanker Dubai Star spilled hundreds of gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay, damaging local beaches, marshes, and fisheries, and injuring birds and wildlife. Spills like this one, during routine fuel transfers, are highly subject to human error and yet are highly preventable. The Dubai Star spill could have been fully contained and collected, before impacting sensitive habitat and forcing the closures of local fisheries, had boom been in the water when the spill occurred. We have a “teachable” moment now in the wake of the disastrous spill in the Gulf to do our best to protect California waters. As the Office of Spill Prevention and Response’s (OSPR) Deputy Administrator, Scott Schaefer, was quoted in the New York Times during the Gulf disaster, the rest of the country is watching California to be a leader in oil spill response. Now is the time to set that example. Fuel transfers are risky yet predictable operations, and offer the perfect opportunity for precautionary management. When oil spills occur in California waters, cities and counties are hugely impacted: fishermen are put out of work; beaches and harbors are polluted and closed; offices of emergency services work overtime to address public health hazards; the shoreline is closed to the public and tourists; and wildlife are injured and killed. All of this negatively
impacts the state’s environment and economy. According to OSPR, the cost to clean up the Dubai Star spill was approximately $40,000 per gallon. The groups signed onto this letter, with their legions of members and supporters, support AB 234, which requires ships to put out boom, when it is safe and effective, during all bunkering and lightering oil transfer operations. AB 234 is modeled after Washington State’s rule, which mandates pre-booming as a standard for oil transfers to protect people and the environment when it is safe and effective to do so, and provides alternative boom measures when conditions do not make pre-booming safe or effective. Washington State has successfully contained and cleaned up more than 80 percent of oil spilled by employing pre-booming, or immediate booming of spills. The bill authorizes OSPR, at its discretion, to increase the per barrel fee by up to one cent to fund the Oil Spill Administration Fund (OSPAF), the sole funding source for the OSPR’s numerous statewide spill prevention, preparedness, and response programs. Such a funding source is particularly valuable right now as OSPR projects a deficit of more than $3 million next year, and nearly $12 million by 2012 – threatening to leave California extremely vulnerable in the event of an oil spill. AB 234 also directs the State Lands Commission to ensure that drilling rigs operating in state waters have fully redundant and functioning safety systems to prevent blow-out preventer failures from causing major spills – a must we have learned from the Gulf oil spill tragedy. While OSPR has the administrative authority to amend regulations for oil transfer operations, their proposed changes do not go far enough to adequately protect California, nor does OSPR have the ability to raise needed funds to continue providing even the current level of spill prevention and response for California. As Governor, you have a moment now, after the tragic Gulf oil spill, to ensure the best measures to protect California. We strongly support AB 234 and urge you to sign this important legislation that will provide the best available protection for our environment and associated economy, and relieve the state and local governments from avoidable expenditures for emergency cleanup operations. Sincerely,
Jackie Dragon Marine Sanctuaries Program Director Pacific Environment
Richard Charter Senior Policy Advisor, Marine Programs Defenders of Wildlife
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Lisa Owens Viani Co-founder East Bay Bird Advocates
Mark Green ABAG President and Union City Mayor Association of Bay Area Governments
Marcie Keever Clean Vessels Campaign Director Friends of the Earth
Larry Collins President Crab Boat Owners Association
Linda Sheehan Executive Director California Coastkeeper Alliance
Kaitilin Gaffney Director, Pacific Ecosystem Protection Ocean Conservancy
Chad Nelsen Environmental Director Surfrider Foundation
Marc Holmes Program Director The Bay Institute
David Helvarg President Blue Frontier Campaign
Michael Stocker Executive Director Ocean Conservation Research
Geoffrey G. Shester, Ph.D. California Program Director Oceana
Wallace ‘J’ Nichols Founder/Co-Director Ocean Revolution
Warner Chabot Chief Executive Officer California League of Conservation Voters
Anne l. Riley, Ph.D Executive Director Waterways Restoration Institute
David Wilmot, Ph.D. President and Co-Founder Ocean Champions
Lance Morgan, Ph.D. Vice President for Science Marine Conservation Biology Institute
Linda Krop Chief Counsel Environmental Defense Center
Andrea Treece Senior Attorney Center for Biological Diversity
Leila Monroe Attorney, NRDC Ocean Initiative Natural Resources Defense Council
Kurt Lieber Founder and President Ocean Defenders Alliance
Zeke Grader Executive Director Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
Terri Watson Executive Director Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association
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Christopher Pincetich, Ph.D. Campaigner & Marine Biologist Turtle Island Restoration Network
Laura Kasa Executive Director Save Our Shores
Michael Endicott Resource Sustainability Advocate Sierra Club California
Pat Moran On behalf of CA Association of Professional Scientists
Miriam Gordon California Director Clean Water Action
Norman La Force Chair Sierra Club, S.F. Bay Chapter
Christopher Chin Executive Director Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, And Education
Dan Jacobson Legislative Director Environment California
Cc: Assemblyman Jared Huffman
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