The Manhattan Beach City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the proposed oil drilling in Hermosa Beach Tuesday.
“We have not only every right, but an obligation to the citizens of Manhattan Beach to protect their health, safety and welfare, to speak on their behalf, particularly because they don’t get a vote,” said Mayor Wayne Powell before the council took its action. “This is why we, as a unified city council, need to unanimously pass a resolution opposing the oil drilling.”
The council had asked staff to draft a resolution opposing the drilling at an earlier meeting. Most of the councilmembers expressed personal opposition at that time, but a couple said they wanted more information before making a formal statement.
The city joins Santa Monica, which passed a similar resolution last year.
About 20 members of the public spoke both for and against the council weighing in on the issue, including members of the Hermosa Beach Council and representatives from the oil company, E & B Natural Resources.
Hermosa Beach Mayor Pro Tem Nanette Barragan said that even though the majority of her city’s council opposed the drilling, they had not passed a resolution because the oil company threatened to sue them if they did. When Councilmember David Lesser asked if the Manhattan Beach council should give its opinion, she said they should.
“This project is going to affect your constituents, your economy — it’s why I think it’s appropriate for you to take a position,” she said.
Hermosa Beach Councilmember Hany Fangary quoted Senator Ted Lieu, saying, “Anybody who wants to drill in Hermosa Beach — that’s just stupid.”
E & B vice president Mike Finch also spoke.
“You’re going to hear a lot of numbers — I don’t want to talk about numbers,” Finch said. “We have three projects that were approved by LA County. They recognized that the benefits far outweigh the risks.”
A number of speakers said that they thought the council should not issue a position.
“The taking of a formal position by this city is not a principled position,” said Hermosa Beach resident Gary Brown, who was wearing a “Yes on O” pin. “It sets a precedent for future councils and other cities. Every city has the right to determine its own future.”
Manhattan Beach resident Gerry O’Connor said Hermosa Beach had asked for the city’s opinion when it asked for a response to the Environmental Impact Report. He said no one had objected at the time.
“Now that they realize that they’re fighting a losing battle, they’re asking you not to interfere,” he said.
The council debated at length whether it was appropriate for them to weigh in.
Councilmembers Mark Burton and Tony D’Errico said that passing the resolution would affect the March 3 ballot measure.
“I have a hard time taking away the sovereign rights of the people of Hermosa Beach,” said D’Errico. “You can’t tell me a decision by this council one month before the vote is not going to have an influence on the vote.”
However, Mayor Wayne Powell and Councilmember Amy Howorth ultimately persuaded their colleagues that they were speaking on behalf of the citizens of Manhattan Beach, and not for Hermosa Beach.
They convinced them by changing the language of the resolution to say, “The City of Manhattan Beach is opposed to the potential adverse impacts on Manhattan Beach residents due to oil drilling in the city of Hermosa Beach.”
The resolution was based on the “nine unavoidable impacts” in the Final Environmental Impact Report on “aesthetics, air quality, biology, hydrology, land use, noise, recreation, safety, and risk of upset (e.g. spills and explosions).”
Community Development Director Marisa Lundstendt said that although there was much information about how the drilling would affect Hermosa Beach, there was very little on how it would affect Manhattan Beach.
According to her report, the city would be directly affected by the drilling in three ways: traffic and pollution from trucks traveling down Artesia Boulevard, past Mira Costa High School; a potential burden on the city’s emergency responders, who would have to be further trained to respond with Hazmat capabilities; and the potential consequences for the city should there be an oil spill.
“As discussed in the project EIR, during a rain event, a potential oil spill from the oil pipeline along Valley Drive or at the intersection of Valley Drive and Herondo Street could drain directly into storm drains and flow to the ocean,” the report said. “Even without rains, the capacity of the storm drains is such that an oil spill could still reach the ocean, depending on the arrangement of sand at the mouth of the ocean discharge.”
Even without an oil spill, the report said, “the region could be potentially impacted due to decreased air quality, impacts to recreational areas, increased greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater impacts, and disruption of marine ecosystems.”
The resolution took effect immediately. ER
