Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D—Long Beach) introduced AB 2404 Wednesday to remove the limit on the amount of revenue deposited into the State’s Oil Trust Fund. The fund is solely used to clean up abandoned oil wells within the Long Beach tidelands that are no longer in use.
“Without a solvent trust fund, we will be on the hook for millions of dollars in oil abandonment costs,” O’Donnell said. “This bill ensures funding needed to protect our Long Beach coastline.”
AB 2404, which is sponsored by the California State Lands Commission, lifts the cap and reserves more revenue to ensure funds are available when oil operations cease. The Oil Trust Fund reached its $300-million cap in June 2014 and has not grown since. The State’s share of abandonment liability is estimated at approximately $836 million, leaving a shortfall of $536 million.
Source: O’Donnell’s office
