TO: Mayor Robert Garcia Jan 16, 2018

Long Beach City Council members

Monique DeLaGarza City Clerk

FROM: Corliss Lee

3072 Knoxville Ave
Long Beach Ca 90808

Re: Wetlands Land Swap File 18-0029

DS - BOMP/Synergy - General Plan and SEADIP Zoning Amendment

Please include this letter in the packet for the Mayor and Council members

Honorable City Council Members

Reportedly, there are only 3% of our wetlands left on our coast and precious little habitat remains that
is natural to the area. As the stewards of this precious resource, it is our grave responsibility to protect
it for future generations. Will this venture produce significant revenue such that the destruction of
habitat for a duration of 40 years is a reasonable tradeoff for at best, a fluctuating income stream of
sales tax into City coffers and at worst, an abandoned drilling site?

Because of the damage oil does to our environment, we are moving toward solar and wind powered
technologies. It seems likely that oil will be less in demand in the near future. The emissions make it
not only undesirable as a fuel, but damaging to our environment and a chief culprit in global warming.

This brings me to my main concern with respect to this proposal. The City has granted Beach Oil
Minerals Partners (BOMP) a very generous schedule for the cleanup of the Synergy-owned land being
swapped - a remarkable 44 years. A lot can happen in that stretch of time: Oil may become obsolete
as a fuel; the price of oil may fluctuate making it impractical to drill; laws may be enacted to force us
to give up our dependence on oil; cars may shift to solar power (a technology successfully developed
over 30 years ago). Any of these possibilities can lead BOMP to bankruptcy and abandonment of the
site. It seems there is a risk that the clean up may never occur. It would seem that the cleanup
should be front-loaded into the schedule to ensure it takes place. Otherwise this may be nothing
more than a thinly disguised marketing ploy baiting the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority (LCWA) with
promises that are not likely to be kept in exchange for access to oil without opposition.

I’m not sure why every entrance into our City is unmarked and in this case, destined to become even
more of an eyesore than already exists. I won’t be proud of this entrance into Long Beach. I don’t
look forward to the visual blight of oil drilling equipment at our southernmost entrance in close
proximity to our coastal areas.

The fauna and flora that depend on this location for life do not have a voice. Some will be run out of
town and will either cease to exist or if they have mobility, have to find their sustenance elsewhere.
The purported intent of this project is to expand habitable wetlands, and we can only be hopeful that
will be the outcome.

I have serious reservations about the long term projections given in this project. Accepting these terms
with nothing more than a promise seems to be most unwise.
Respectfully,

Corliss Lee

Distribution: City Clerk Monique DeLaGarza cityclerk@longbeach.gov

Robert Garcia mayor@longbeach.gov
Lena Gonzalez district1@longbeach.gov
Jeannine Pearce district2@longbeach.gov
Suzie Price district3@longbeach.gov
Daryl Supernaw district4@longbeach.gov
Stacy Mungo district5@longbeach.gov
Dee Andrews district6@longbeach.gov
Robert Uranga district7@longbeach.gov
Al Austin district8@longbeach.gov
Rex Richardson district9@longbeach.gov