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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES NO 36-99RESOLUTION NO. 3 6 ' 9 9 A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAKERSFIELD IN SUPPORT OF OIL PRICE CRISIS RELIEF WHEREAS, the oil industry in Kern County is vital to the economic growth and stability of Kern County, the State of California, and the United States of America; and WHEREAS, Kern County, the top-producing oil county in the nation, produced approximately 600,000 barrels of oil per day in 1998, which is 65 percent of California's total oil production and about 10 percent of total U.S. oil production; and WHEREAS, more than one-third of California's oil production is at risk of becoming permanently lost due to the current sustained period of record low prices for heavy crude; and WHEREAS, the loss of substantial volumes of domestic oil production, particularly from enhanced crude oil recovery operations, will devastate Kern County through the loss of thousands of jobs; significant revenue losses, both to businesses and to local property tax rolls; and will transfer additional U.S. energy security to the hands of foreign governments; and WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of all Americans that rational policies be enacted which will assist the continuing production and development of California's oil resource base, which constitutes a strategically important commodity. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Bakersfield as follows: The Council strongly supports the following proposed legislation which is designed to assist the California and U.S. oil and gas industry in times of extremely low commodity prices: AB 687 (Calderon) ,- Allows independent oil and gas producers to increase and accelerate cost recovery in producing oil and gas properties through percentage depletion during periods of extremely low oil prices. AB 1095 (Ashburn) -- Urgency measure to allow independent oil and gas producers to be eligible for existing disaster relief programs that are available to other commodity producers. AB 1610 (Florez) - Creates a marginal well tax credit for oil and natural gas producers and is designed to prevent premature abandonment of high cost, low margin wells during periods of extremely low oil prices. HR 53 (Watkins, OK) -- Creates a marginal well tax credit at the federal level with the same goal as AB 1610. HR 423 (Thomas, CA) -- Allows domestic oil and gas producers to carry back net operating losses for five years instead of two to improve cash flow. f. HR 497 Thornberry, TX) -- Encourages reactivating idle or shut-in wells. S. 325 (Hutchinson, TX) - Comprehensive energy measure which advocates a marginal well tax credit, inactive well incentives, and other drilling and exploration incentives. The Council directs that a copy of this resolution shall be forwarded to appropriate members of the Legislature, the Governor of California, the United States Congress, and the President of the United States. .......... o0o .......... I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was passed and adopted by the Council of the City of Bakersfield at a regular meeting thereof held on MAR ,3:1 1999, by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERCA~iON, DEMOND, MAGGARD, COUCH, ROWLES, SULLIVAN, SALVAGGIO COUNCILMEMBER COUNCILMEMBER COUNCILMEMBER CITY CLERK and Ex Offi~Clerk of the Council of the City of Bakersfield APPROVED MAR 3 1 ~: ,. BOB PRICE " MAYOR of Bakersfield APPROVED AS TO FORM: BART J. THILTGEN City Attorney TS:laa S:~anager~ResoOilPriceRelief,wl:>d February 10, 1999