{"id":376819,"date":"2026-06-27T03:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376819\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T03:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:58:23","slug":"trump-administration-takes-aim-at-california-coastal-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376819\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Takes Aim at California Coastal Protections"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new federal review threatens California’s power to protect its coastline from oil and gas exploration.<\/p>\n

Jun 26, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 4:06 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A view of the offshore oil and gas platform Esther on March 17, 2026, in Seal Beach, California. Trump officials say they\u2019re reviewing California\u2019s authority to manage its coast.
\n\u00a0(Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

California\u2019s Coastal Management Program includes the California Coastal Commission, the California Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. NOAA will hold an in-person meeting and two virtual public hearings on the topic in August and will accept comments through Aug. 22.<\/p>\n

Coastal experts said the probe is a not-so-veiled political ploy to force open the door to federal projects that align with the administration\u2019s views and run counter to the state\u2019s environmental goals. But they said the pathway to changing California\u2019s authority isn\u2019t an easy one and would likely result in litigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a blatantly political move,\u201d said Mark Lubell, an environmental science and policy professor at UC Davis. \u201cIt may be political smoke and mirrors in the long run, but it\u2019s going to take effort to kind of push back on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (center) delivers remarks as President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The administration said it will review the state\u2019s compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act.<\/a> The federal law, established in 1972, allows states to develop programs to protect coastal resources and minimize hazards such as flooding and sea-level rise. It also gives states the power to review federal projects to ensure they comply with state rules.<\/p>\n

Warner Chabot was part of the campaign that led to the act\u2019s passage. He said the review is a way for the federal government to bypass the state\u2019s objections to developing coastal waters for oil and gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration wants to gut or decapitate the Coastal Commission so they can have free rein for auctioning California coastal waters for offshore oil drilling, plain and simple,\u201d Chabot said.<\/p>\n

California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot called the review a \u201cnew attack\u201d on the state and federal \u201ccollaborative relationship\u201d in managing the coastline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is already working to open California\u2019s coast to new offshore drilling,\u201d Crowfoot said in a statement. \u201cOur $51 billion coastal economy serves as a powerful engine for the state\u2019s prosperity, and the people of our state must keep a seat at the table to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Savage, California policy associate director for Surfrider Foundation, a conservation group, said the review is \u201can incredibly serious issue\u201d and an attempt to take the state\u2019s authority from managing its coastline. Savage said the outcome<\/a> could lead to the removal of oversight of federal projects and the loss of funding for those projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear this is the Trump administration using a federal process to punish California,\u201d Savage said. \u201cWe know that the Trump administration does not have California\u2019s protections as their primary interest, and so we need to push back as hard as possible against this effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina Hill, a UC Berkeley environmental planning professor and expert in sea level rise issues, said federal efforts to undermine the state could lead to \u201ccontamination of the environment, lead to public health risks, beach quality and water quality issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary to see states\u2019 abilities to protect public health and the environment [potentially] weakened,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Hill said that a decision to strip the state of the power to protect the environment would place the onus on local communities to push back against the federal government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new federal review threatens California’s power to protect its coastline from oil and gas exploration. Jun 26,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-376819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}