The NY Times reports that Hermosa Beach is now wrestling with the issue of whether to allow natural resource extraction (and receive a flow of $ checks) or to be a "green community".
A Direct Quote:
"Across this community on a hillside rising up from the beach, homes are blistering with signs urging a no vote on Measure O, as the drilling initiative is known: “Keep oil out of Hermosa.” All five members of the City Council, including the mayor, have urged voters to defeat it, despite the huge penalty — part of an agreement the city signed with the company to end a lawsuit — and the loss of future oil revenue.
“It’s a little more than we probably should have paid,” Mayor Peter Tucker said, referring to the deal for potential damages. “But if it gets us out of this constant, constant oil issue we’ve had hanging over us for 30 years, I think it’s money well spent.”
“We are not an oil town,” Mr. Tucker said. “We don’t need the money.”"
The article has some nice quotes from the oil industry (that wants the right to drill) and that has been smart about taking precautionary actions to minimize its negative externalities on this local community.
Another Quote:
"“It’s the California coastline, and that’s always a challenge,” Michael Finch, a vice president with E&B, said. “We suffer from the ‘I don’t want it in my backyard’ syndrome. But you are talking about a 1.3-acre site that would be behind a 35-foot wall.”
He said it would be more environmentally sound to drill for the oil here and put it right into the California distribution system than to ship it from across the globe.
The campaign has set off fraught neighbor-versus-neighbor debates about the future of this peaceful community, while fueling pointed questions about how the city ended up in such a financially vulnerable position. (City officials noted that the energy company had originally pushed for a much higher penalty for breaking the contract.)"