Trump releases plan to open California coastline to new offshore oil drilling

The Trump administration on Thursday released plans to open the entire California coastline to new offshore oil drilling, sparking a furious battle with environmental groups and the state’s Democratic leaders.

The 5-year plan unveiled by the U.S. Department of Interior proposed six offshore lease sales off the coast of California starting in 2027 and running to 2030. It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump officials said more oil drilling would boost the economy.

“By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Environmental groups and Democratic leaders vowed to relentlessly fight the plan politically and legally.

“This administration wants to erase the protections we put in place on our environment,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Monterey. “They want to harm our economy and threaten our way of life. The California coastline is not the east wing of the White House.”

The proposal Thursday did not include specific maps showing exactly which areas would be offered for drilling. But it includes two general areas off the Central Coast, three off Southern California, and one off the far northern California coast.

A 60-day public comment period will begin when the proposal is published in the Federal Register on Monday.

If lease sales to oil companies go forward it would mark the first time since 1984 — when President Ronald Reagan’s Interior secretary, James Watt, sought to drill off Big Sur and the coasts of San Mateo and Sonoma counties — that any new offshore drilling leases would be offered for sale in California.

California is the nation’s eighth-largest oil-producing state. Most of its oil is produced from inland wells, but there are 27 offshore platforms and artificial islands where oil is produced, all located in Southern California off the coasts of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. They date back to the 1950s. No new ones have been constructed since 1983 because of opposition from political leaders, conservation groups and the tourism and fishing industries.

Trump attempted to open new areas off California and the West Coast during his first term, but opponents sued and when President Biden won election in 2020, he killed the plan.

Now environmental groups — who say new drilling would risk devastating oil spills like the 1969 spill that blackened the Santa Barbara coast with thick crude, harming whales, sea otters, and other wildlife, along with the fishing and tourism industries — are dusting off plans they have used in prior years.

“This will be the main environmental fight in California for the rest of the decade,” said Richard Charter, a longtime Sonoma Coast offshore oil activist.

Overall, Californians oppose new offshore drilling.

A poll in July by the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan research organization, found that 65% percent of registered voters in California oppose new drilling and 34% support it.

Opponents have a long list of methods to slow and potentially defeat new drilling plans, as they have in the past.

First, Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, signed a law in 1994 banning new drilling in state waters out to three miles.

Second, more than two dozen local governments, including Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Mendocino and Humboldt counties, have passed local ordinances back to the early 1990s that ban construction of new pipelines, storage tanks, helicopter landing pads and other infrastructure where oil from new offshore platforms could be delivered, stored and processed.

Third, California has five national marine sanctuaries — Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones, Monterey Bay, Channel Islands and the Chumash Heritage sanctuary, established last year by the Biden administration. Those extend from Point Arena in southern Mendocino County to Gaviota, off Santa Barbara. Oil and gas drilling is permanently banned in those areas under federal law.

Finally, if the Democrats win back either the House or the Senate next November, they could block the new drilling efforts by refusing to fund the Interior Department’s leasing programs, as they did in the 1980s when Leon Panetta, then a Monterey congressman, blocked all funds for the Reagan administration to pursue new drilling off California.

“We are going to stop this,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. “We are going to kill it off.”

In the meantime, the California Coastal Commission, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and others are likely to file lawsuits aimed at blocking new drilling.

“For decades, California has stood firm in our opposition to new offshore drilling, and nothing will change that,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “We will use every tool at our disposal to protect our coastline. It’s interesting that Donald’s proposal doesn’t include the waters off Mar-a-Lago.”

Some oil industry officials praised Thursday’s move, although it remains unclear if oil companies will want to bid on leases in a state where they will face years of lawsuits, political opposition, and protests.

“We applaud Secretary Burgum for laying the groundwork for a new and more expansive five-year program that unlocks opportunities for long-term investment offshore, and supports energy affordability at a time of rising demand at home and abroad,” said Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.

Critics said the new drilling was not likely to affect gas prices.

“Oil companies admit it would take a decade or longer to produce oil and what is there would barely move the needle,” said Mike Levin, D-Carlsbad. “One spill would shut down our beaches, would kill our wildlife, would hammer small businesses.”