SB 188: State lands: leasing: oil and gas.

Existing law vests exclusive jurisdiction over ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state to the State Lands Commission. Existing law confers the powers of the commission as to leasing or granting of rights or privileges to lands owned by the state upon a local trustee of granted public trust lands to which those lands have been granted. Existing law authorizes the California Coastal Commission commission to let leases for the extraction of oil and gas from coastal tidelands or submerged lands in state waters and beds of navigable rivers and lakes within the state in accordance with specified provisions of law.

Existing law, notwithstanding those provisions or any other provision of law, prohibits a state agency or state officer from entering into any new lease for the extraction of oil or gas from the California Coastal Sanctuary, which includes certain state waters subject to tidal influence, unless either (1) the President of the United States has found a severe energy supply interruption and has ordered distribution of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Governor finds that the energy resources of the sanctuary will contribute significantly to the alleviation of that interruption, and the Legislature subsequently acts to amend the law to allow the extraction, or (2) the commission determines that the oil or gas deposits are being drained by means of producing wells upon adjacent federal lands and the lease is in the best interest of the state.

This bill would prohibit the commission and the local trustees of granted public trust lands from entering into any new lease or other conveyance or from entering into any lease renewal, extension, or modification that authorizes a lessee to engage in new or additional exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas upon lands owned by the state and under the jurisdiction of the commission that are located seaward of the ordinary high water mark for tidal waterways and the ordinary low water mark for navigable nontidal waterways that would result in the increase of oil or natural gas production from federal waters. The bill would apply the exceptions applicable to the California Coastal Sanctuary to these provisions. The bill would authorize the commission to establish guidelines for the implementation of these provisions.