California lawmakers call for changes after Orange County oil spill

A view of the oil platform Emmy off Huntington Beach at dusk in mid-October. Weeks after a massive oil spill marred the Orange County coast with significant environmental and economic damage, state lawmakers met in Sacramento on Thursday to demand that those responsible “be held accountable,” with one legislator calling for an end to offshore drilling in California. At an oversight hearing by the state Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee, legislators acknowledged that ending offshore drilling would be an extremely difficult task — the majority of oil rigs off California’s coastline are in federally regulated waters. Dan Steward, vice president of Amplify Energy’s Beta Operating Co., stated that because of the ongoing investigation, the company was “not in a position to discuss these issues at this time.” In California, both Democratic and Republican governors and the state lands and coastal commissions have successfully fended off numerous efforts to expand offshore drilling in federal waters. When the Trump administration pushed to open federal waters to drilling on an unprecedented scale, California passed laws blocking new oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure from being built on state lands.