HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Asks State to Stop Oil Mooring
In a letter mailed Thursday to the State Lands Commission, all seven members of the City Council urged the agency to cancel its lease on the offshore mooring that was the site of the Feb. 7 oil spill.
The commission controls and leases the 20 offshore oil moorings in California. The one that is 1.3 miles from this city’s beaches is the only one in Orange County. On Feb. 7, the tanker American Trader spilled about 397,000 gallons of crude oil after rupturing at the mooring site.
In the letter to the commission, the City Council members said the health and safety of the city’s residents are being threatened by continued operation of the offshore mooring. The letter also said the mooring “threatens the ecologically fragile marine and coastal environment.”
The letter said: “The character of Huntington Beach has significantly changed over the years. Today, Huntington Beach is a residential and resort city; its beaches are consistently the most visited recreational public beaches on the West Coast.
“If the commission allows the existing offshore oil facilities to remain, it would be doing a great disservice to the public,” the letter said.
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