Mayor decries drilling to lawmakers
Mayor Michael DiVirgilio makes his case before a state Assembly committee. Photo
Mayor Michael DiVirgilio told state lawmakers that cities should be free to halt oil-drilling projects they deem too hazardous. Hermosa is presently fighting a $700 million breach-of-contract lawsuit by a spurned oil company.
“A city council should not have to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds to fight oil companies in court, nor should a city face the potential of huge financial judgments for simply doing its job by protecting the health and safety of its residents,” DiVirgilio told members of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, who had come to Hermosa Beach City Hall on Friday to hold a hearing into the hazards of California oil drilling projects.
“State law should be clear that a municipality has the right to protect its residents from dangerous oil-drilling and production operations near homes, businesses, parks and schools,” DiVirgilio said.
City Attorney Michael Jenkins joined DiVirgilio at a table before the legislators’ dais to ask legislators to discuss ways to protect cities like Hermosa from large liabilities in such cases.
Jenkins pointed out that Macpherson Oil secured a drilling contract with the city only after the company financed a voter initiative in 1986 that overturned an earlier ban on drilling. The city later canceled the contract, deeming the project too hazardous.
“It’s an area of law that is very, very difficult where you have a small group of residents, voting in an election where there’s very low turnout, passing an initiative that ultimately results in potential liability,” Jenkins said. “Perhaps there’s a way to beef up some immunities so that municipalities would not be subject to liability in the event of those ballot measures.”
Assemblyman Pedro Nava, the chairman of the committee who chose Hermosa as the site of the meeting, answered noncommittally.
“I’m a little torn on any expanded liability protection, only because if you make it too broad, then maybe you don’t fight so hard,” Nava said.
An often-heard argument against broad liability protection for municipalities holds that they would have little incentive to curb lawsuit-inducing behavior if their risk of damages was reduced too much.
After the hearing, the mayor said the main aim of his committee appearance was to be helpful to other cities that might face similar issues of oil drilling and legal action.
“I think the biggest outcome of our participation is to help prevent folks from getting into the same situation,” he said.
DiVirgilio said he did not expect direct help from the lawmakers in the Macpherson lawsuit.
“I don’t see anything happening there, but we’re open to help wherever we can get it,” he said.
The Legislature sometimes steps in to protect a city with a bill targeted directly at the issue it faces. But Jenkins said outside the hearing that lawmakers are usually reluctant to step in to any issue that has made its way before the courts.
The Macpherson lawsuit has traveled up and down the court system, and is before the state Supreme Court for possible review.
In his testimony before the committee, which held the hearing in the wake of a disastrous Louisiana oil rig explosion, DiVirgilio said the Macpherson plan to slant-drill under the ocean from city-owned land would have subjected residents to unacceptable hazards. That contention has been denied repeatedly by representatives of the oil company.
“Today, we know the type of massive oil-drilling project that was proposed for Hermosa Beach could have exposed the thousands of people living and working nearby to a catastrophic and potentially fatal explosion,” DiVirgilio said.
“Nearly a quarter of a century after Macpherson Oil Company first proposed putting up to 30 oil wells on a scant 1.3 acres in the heart of Hermosa Beach, we are still fighting in court to defend the most fundamental of a city’s rights and obligations – the right and obligation to protect the health and safety of its residents,” he said.
Jim Bright, lead attorney for Macpherson Oil in its lawsuit against the city, said the hearing sounded “like a staged political event to gain publicity, especially in light of the horrible tragedy in the gulf.”
He said the potential for a catastrophic explosion from the once-planned drilling project “is utter baloney. I guess if Mr. DiVirgilio thinks he repeats it over and over again it will gain traction. But it’s a myth.”
He said city officials try to “spin” the dispute to make it seem they are victims of the oil company.
“The court has already held – and this has not changed – that the city breached the lease with the Macpherson Oil Co. Most people know what that means, that the party that breached didn’t keep its promise,” Bright said.
Bright also has pointed out that Macpherson’s project had gotten approval from the city and the California Coastal Commission, and had passed muster in a legally mandated environmental impact report, before Hermosans voted to ban oil drilling and city officials canceled the company’s drilling project. ER