Bill Bans Use of Barges for Offshore Oil

The Legislature gave final approval Monday to a bill that would require companies to use pipelines, not barges or tankers, to deliver oil produced off California’s coast to refineries.

Hailed by environmental groups and fought by the oil industry, the bill by Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) primarily affects Venoco Inc. of Carpinteria, which typically barges petroleum twice a week to a Long Beach refinery.

“We can’t land that barge in California if this bill passes,” said Venoco Vice President Mike Edwards. “Instead of taking it up to Los Angeles or Bay Area refineries, we’ll have to take it up to Washington in a barge.”

“It is these kind of anti-business bills masquerading as saving the environment that have bankrupted California and raised the cost of energy for everyone,” Edwards said.

The Senate passed the bill on a party-line vote of 21 to 14, with the minimum number of votes necessary. It goes next to Gov. Gray Davis for his signature or veto. Spokesman Russ Lopez said the governor has taken no position on the bill.

The bill applies only to oil-extraction operations that were new or expanded as of January 2003.

Jackson and Democrats in the Senate argued that pipelines are less prone to spills than tankers or barges because they can be shut off. But Republicans argued that pipelines break, too.

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) contended that the legislation would restrict the industry from moving petroleum throughout the state and would result in higher gasoline prices.

“If you like $4-a-gallon gasoline,” he said, “vote for this measure.”

Edwards said it would cost Venoco $10 million to $20 million to build a 10- to 20-mile pipeline. He said the company has not decided whether it would construct a pipeline or barge petroleum to Washington state if AB 16 is signed into law.

In other legislative action, the Assembly passed a bill that would require landlords to account for how they spend a tenant’s security deposit.

Landlords would have to give their renters receipts for repairs and cleaning if SB 90 by Sen. Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) becomes law.

The bill passed the Assembly 43-29. It returns to the Senate this week for final approval.

Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) argued that the bill could minimize lawsuits. Under current law, he said, a tenant must go to small claims court to challenge how a landlord spends the security deposit, which is a lump sum paid by the tenant when the lease begins and kept by the landlord in case the tenant damages the apartment or house.

Republicans said the bill would burden landlords and discourage them from investing in severely needed rental housing.

“It seems to me we’re going in the wrong direction,” said Assemblyman Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach).

In other legislative business Monday, the Senate passed a resolution encouraging the Boy Scouts of America, which denies membership to gays, to accept as leaders all qualified men and boys, regardless of sexual orientation or religious belief.

The lengthy resolution praised the values of “honor, loyalty and courage” instilled by the Scouts, but noted: “The discriminatory policy of the Boy Scouts of America is contrary to the policy of the state of California.”

The bill had passed the Assembly in April on a partisan vote of 43 to 2, with many Republicans abstaining. The Senate passed the resolution by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) 22 to 15.

Sen. Rico Oller (R-San Andreas) contended that the resolution was designed to undermine the Boy Scouts and “take away the very essence of who they are.”