Hermosa Beach Stop Oil Coalition v. City of Hermosa Beach

Plaintiffs and appellants Hermosa Beach Stop Oil Coalition, Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and American Oceans Campaign (hereafter collectively referred to as Stop Oil) appeal from a judgment after a bench trial entered in favor of defendants and respondents City of Hermosa Beach and City Council of the City of Hermosa Beach (the City) and real parties in interest and respondents Windward Associates and Macpherson Oil Company (Macpherson). The judgment denied Stop Oil’s request for injunctive and declaratory relief. Macpherson has filed a cross-appeal, asserting additional grounds to support the trial court’s judgment.

The essential question presented is whether reinstatement of a total ban on oil drilling within the City, adopted through the initiative process in November 1995 (Proposition E), constitutes an unconstitutional impairment of the 1992 lease agreement between Macpherson and the City for oil and gas exploration and production on City-owned property.

The trial court ruled that application of Proposition E to the Macpherson oil drilling project would constitute an unconstitutional impairment of the lease agreement between Macpherson and the City. We…