Above, NARO-CA President Ed Hazard, addresses the attendees.
By Roy Reed, NARO-CA Member
July 21, 2025
Santa Maria, California has long been notable as the home of Vandenberg Space Force Base, with its long history of successful missile launches carrying payloads dedicated to defense, communications, and reconnaissance missions. Yesterday, July 17, 2025, another significant launch occurred, although it did not come from SpaceX, or the Department of Defense.
Yesterday marked the launch of a series of NARO-California Town Hall meetings with payloads aimed at alerting, informing, and arming the states royalty owners against the organized and cumulative legislative assaults which they are facing in their efforts to develop and produce their mineral resources. The principal threats, at the moment, are three pieces of Sacramento-produced legislation that have been signed into law by Governor Newsom. They are SB 1137, AB 3233, and AB 2716. Further, at least two Counties, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, are currently attempting to phase out oil production based on AB 3233. SB 1137 establishes 3,200 Health Protection Zones around oil wells and facilities which ban new wells and establish onerous controls on existing wells; AB 3233 attempts to delegate regulation of oil and gas production to counties and cities, and AB 2716, which currently impacts only the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles County, imposes fines and, ultimately, forced abandonment of all wells in the Inglewood oil field by December 31, 2030.
While NARO-Californias legal team has previously met with great success through the courts in fighting challenges in the City of Los Angeles, County of Monterey and County of Ventura, the fight continues and promises to spread to other counties, as occurred just a few weeks ago when the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors directed its Planning Department to begin drafting an ordinance to phase out oil production based on AB 3233. NARO-Californias legal team considers all three of these new laws to violate the California State Constitution and the United States Constitution. Further, if they were to stand, they could result in a taking of mineral/royalty owner assets requiring just compensation as guaranteed under the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And while the courts have thus far agreed with our constitutional challenges in our previous cases, there remains substantial work to be done.
On that basis, NARO-California has conceived and now launched a series of Town Hall Meetings to be held across the states oil-producing counties to alert royalty owners to the existential threats they now face, to inform them of the actions which NARO- California and our legal team have undertaken on their behalf, and to offer to each and every royalty owner the opportunity to participate in their own defense through personal action, working with the NARO-California team, and/or through donation. Implementing our legal strategy is a costly task and financial support will be a continuing element of our campaign. We urge you all to support our cause at any level you may be able to.
The Santa Maria Town Hall began with a greeting and overview from Ed Hazard, President, NARO-California, followed by a presentation from Bob Nelson, Santa Barbara County 4 th District Supervisor, who detailed the current challenge to royalty owners rights which was rammed through the Board of Supervisors by its radical anti-oil majority. Ben Oakley, Manager, Coastal Region, Western States Petroleum Association, followed with an in-depth presentation covering Californias petroleum production, refining, and distribution systems, with a full explanation of the current dilemma created by refinery closures and dwindling capacity in the face of unrelenting demand for motor fuels. Edward Renwick, Esq., Hanna and Morton LLP, NARO- Californias General Counsel, presented a thorough legal analysis of the current legislation and provided a comprehensive overview of NARO-Californias legal strategy designed to support the efforts of its members to preserve their rights to produce their mineral assets. Ample opportunity was offered throughout the evening to fully address any questions which were generated from the audience.
The meeting concluded with closing remarks and perspective from Edward Hazard, during which he emphasized the current threats to royalty owners rights and the necessity of our combined action if we are to preserve them. The 40 in-person attendees as well as the 40+ online attendees completed the evening informed and prepared for action.
