Malibu Township Council (MTC) will conduct a free-of-charge community-wide conference aimed at preventing the opening of new federal offshore oil drilling leases that experts say are likely to harm Malibu’s open and safe coastal environment, healthy surfing and swimming and even the city’s tourist-based economy .
The conference, at 1:30 p.m., Sat., March 24, at the City Hall Theater, 23825 Stuart Ranch Road, will feature an introductory message prepared by The Hon. Leon Panetta, who was largely responsible for keep oil drilling away from the Monterey Bay. The conference will include six coastal expert panelists, including representatives from nonprofit groups whose mission is to keep the ocean environmentally safe.
Panelists include, Congressman Ted Lieu, who represents Malibu and thirteen other coastal cities within the 33rd District; Jeremy Wolf, environmental representative for State Sen. Henry Stern; Attorney Damon Nagami, Natural Resources Defense Council; Steve Wicke, Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Conservation Committee Chair; Chad Nelson, CEO of Surfrider; a representative of State Fish and Wildlife charged with inspections of offshore structures; and Attorney Dayna Bochco, member of the California Coastal Commission. (Bios, with photos, accompany this release on a separate sheet.)
Richard Lawrence, MTC president, announced the event Tuesday (March 6) saying, “Since at least the 1970s, Malibu Township Council has worked to keep our beaches free of chemical and physical contaminants, as well as an open and clean horizons. Oil platforms offshore would damage our waters, our beaches, our waves, and will harm our tourist economy. This is not a future that is acceptable for Malibu residents.”
Experts agree that the possibility of drilling rigs off Malibu looks more and more real every day.
Said Panetta: “More than 35 years ago, I worked with both houses of Congress to impose a moratorium on offshore oil drilling in federal waters along the California coast. We understood the grave threat to one of the nation’s greatest natural and commercial assets. Now that moratorium is at risk.”
L.A. Times staffers Keith Schneider and Tony Barboza wrote that President Trump’s proposal to open the coastline for drilling represents “the largest expanse of the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves ever offered to global energy companies.” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the draft five-year leasing plan would commit 90% of the nation’s offshore reserves to leasing, including areas off all three regions of the California coast that have been off-limits to oil and gas exploration since the Reagan administration.
And Ted Lieu, who represents 14 L.A. County cities and about 75 miles of coastline, authored a letter signed by 36 California Congress members opposing new Pacific Ocean lease sales in the Trump administrations offshore drilling plans. Under Trump’s executive order, the Department of the Interior will consider all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas leases.
“Offshore drilling creates extraordinary safety concerns for coastal communities and ecosystems,” Lieu said. “Instead of fighting climate change and looking at wind, tidal and wave energy development, this drilling proposal will turn our coasts into a game of risk. I am infuriated!”
“This is an important meeting as it will provide information on proposed changes that will affect the economy of Malibu, property values here, and effects of the oil industry on the city that residents love and want to protect,” said Lawrence.
The City Hall Theater holds 250 people. Students, teachers, interested residents are welcome to attend and to bring their friends.
A cookie reception will precede the event to give the audience an opportunity to mingle with panelists.
RSVP are appreciated. Please send to loislane@headlines.org.
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