Excerpted from the Orange County Register
By Alicia Robinson
State legislators holding a special committee hearing in Costa Mesa on Monday, Nov. 15, hope it will point them toward any changes to laws and procedures that could help prevent future oil spills and improve the response to those that do happen.
Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris was appointed last month to chair a 14-member committee looking into the spill that leaked about 25,000 gallons of crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach in early October. The panel will meet Monday at the Coast Community College District offices and is expected to question five officials connected to oil spill response and regulation of pipelines.
“I really want to dig into how can we both respond more swiftly should something like this occur in the future, and how can we respond more effectively,” Petrie-Norris said.
“I think that we’re going to identify opportunities to update and upgrade protocols, regulations and even technology that I believe will have implications at the state, as well as the federal level.”