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A U.S. Department of the Interior map shows proposed offshore oil lease areas. (DOI\/Contributed)<\/p>\nPoliticians, environmental groups and business organizations throughout the state and country expressed outrage Thursday at a Trump administration plan to significantly increase offshore oil leasing, calling the plan an attempt to \u201cdestroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump\u2019s idiotic plan endangers our coastal economy and communities and hurts the well-being of Californians,\u201d Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press release. \u201cThis reckless attempt to sell out our coastline to his Big Oil donors is dead in the water. Californians remember the environmental and economic devastation of past oil spills. For decades, California has stood firm in our opposition to new offshore drilling, and nothing will change that. We will use every tool at our disposal to protect our coastline.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Interior Department announced plans to significantly expand offshore oil production along the California coast and portions of the Gulf of Mexico (which the Trump administration has renamed the \u201cGulf of America\u201d).<\/p>\n
The secretary\u2019s Order 3445, \u201cUnleashing American Offshore Energy,\u201d will \u201cterminate the restrictive Biden 2024\u20132029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program and replace it with a new, expansive 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program by October 2026,\u201d according to a press release from the department.<\/p>\n
Newsom, who said last month that any plans to expand offshore drilling of the California coast would be \u201cdead in the water, added, \u201cIt\u2019s interesting that Donald\u2019s proposal doesn\u2019t include the waters off Mar-a-Lago.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a press call Thursday afternoon, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the announcement \u201cyet another outrageous announcement and effort by this out-of-control administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
In October, Huffman and Padilla led a group of more than 100 lawmakers to demand that the Trump administration reverse plans to open new offshore oil leases.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than four decades, there has been no new drilling off the coast of California, and it\u2019s for good reason. \u2026 Californians overwhelmingly oppose offshore oil drilling,\u201d Padilla told reporters during that call. \u201c\u2026 Whether it\u2019s a heavily populated areas or rural areas fishing zones off the coast of California, there\u2019s so much that we value and so much that Californians have committed to protect. It\u2019s also just protecting our natural resources. It\u2019s protecting our economy. The coastal economy in California alone accounts for tens of billions of dollars in GDP, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and then, in addition to that, there\u2019s the travel and tourism activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padilla said that the California coast \u201cis not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 This delegation is united against these efforts by this administration,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cAnd just as we successfully fought back Trump\u2019s attempts at a redistricting war, when California stood up and passed Proposition 50 overwhelmingly, we\u2019re going to prevail in this fight as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) described his district as \u201cground zero\u201d for oil development in California. He said that \u201cdespite overwhelming opposition from public officials, environmental experts and residents across our state, the administration has decided to move forward with their proposal open up California\u2019s coastline to new offshore oil drilling.\u201d Cabrajal experienced the effects of an oil spill firsthand during the Refugio State Beach Oil Spill in 2015.<\/p>\n
A U.S. Department of the Interior map shows proposed offshore oil lease areas. (DOI\/Contributed)<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be clear,\u201d Carbajal said. \u201cThis is a reckless and dangerous decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur coastline feels everything,\u201d Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego) \u201cBy that, I mean one spill \u2014 and it\u2019s not if, it\u2019s when \u2014 one spill would shut down our beaches, would kill our wildlife (and) would hammer small businesses, just as it did in 2021 (when) there was a relatively small spill in Orange County that wreaked havoc on my district and the surrounding communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levin said that the offshore leases would do nothing in the short term to reduce gas prices, would endanger billions of dollars in coastal economic benefits and would ultimately contribute to the catastrophic effects of climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn California, this is not just a Democratic sentiment. \u2026 Democrats and Republicans \u2014 and almost three-quarters of Californians \u2014 are opposed to offshore oil drilling,\u201d said Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Monterey). \u201cLook, it\u2019s expensive. It\u2019s risky. It\u2019s a threat to our communities and our coastal economies. But this is an administration that just wants to slam dunk on a Democratic-run state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huffman told reporters that opposition to offshore drilling is popular with Republicans as well as Democrats, despite Republican politicians being unwilling to join with the coalition opposing the Interior Department\u2019s new leases.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t mistake lack of Republican elected support for this for lack of Republicans in these coastal areas. They have spoken loud and clear,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cSadly, the elected Republicans in Congress are also completely gutless and unwilling to ever challenge Trump on anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huffman said that the cancellation of the leases \u201cwill happen when we take back the House of Representatives in little over a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
A business perspective<\/p>\n
Grant Bixby, a real estate broker and founding member of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast, told the press that the economic benefits of a clean ocean far exceed those of the offshore oil industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 150 million visitors a year frequent our California coastlines. 653,000 jobs and nearly 54 billion in GDP rely on clean beaches and a healthy ocean,\u201d Bixby said. \u201c\u2026 Our businesses, their employees and clients, deserve to be protected. A 2024 NOAA California Marine Economy Report said tourism and recreation alone represent 67% of employment and 47% of GDP, compared to offshore minerals at 1% 5% respectively. We must appropriately weigh these economic risks. Our clean coast economy absolutely dwarfs the offshore oil economy. This is simple math, pro-business choice, in this case, also happens to be pro-environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Clean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/California_Offshore_Oil_Fight_39821.jpg\")
Clean up crews remove oil-laden sand on the beach at Refugio State Beach, site of an oil spill, north of Goleta, Calif., May 20, 2015. (AP Photo\/Michael A. Mariant, File)
\nEnvironmental groups announce opposition<\/p>\n
Oceana, a nonprofit organization that calls itself the \u201clargest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation,\u201d opposed the Interior Department\u2019s plan \u2014 which would offer six new offshore oil leases off the California coast between 2027 and 2030, as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Arctic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis draft plan is an oil spill nightmare!\u201d Campaign Director Joseph Gordon said in Oceana\u2019s press release. \u201cThe last thing America needs now is a massive expansion of offshore drilling that could shut down our shores with catastrophic oil spills. Our coastal communities, and their multi-billion-dollar economies, rely on healthy oceans to survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Atlantic Coast will thankfully be spared, but this dangerous proposal to still sell off millions of acres of our oceans is a betrayal of the bipartisan voices \u2014 including U.S. lawmakers, business leaders, and the people who live along these coasts \u2014 who oppose more offshore drilling. Congress and coastal state leaders must stand together to defend all of our coasts and demand that the Trump administration go back to the drawing board to take their states out of the final plan. Our coastlines must be safeguarded, not given away to oil and gas interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earthjustice, in conjunction with the Friends of the Earth, Healthy Gulf, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club, announced that it would mount a legal challenge against the Trump administration this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to auction off 80 million acres of our public waters to the oil industry, the least you can do is not break the law in a plethora of ways as you do it,\u201d said Earthjustice senior attorney George Torgun. \u201cThese are the very environmental laws that Congress passed decades ago in response to the destructive consequences of offshore oil drilling. It adds insult to injury that the Trump administration dismisses the serious harm this massive oil-and-gas sale could bring to our most critically endangered whale species while it tries to shut down offshore wind development by saying more environmental review is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Administration\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n
\u201cOffshore oil and gas production does not happen overnight. It takes years of planning, investment, and hard work before barrels reach the market,\u201d said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the department\u2019s news release. \u201cThe Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America\u2019s offshore production. By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America\u2019s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Interior Department, the administration\u2019s draft plan includes \u201cas many as 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of 27 existing Outer Continental Shelf planning areas, covering approximately 1.27 billion acres. That includes 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of America, and six along the Pacific coast. The proposal also includes the Secretary\u2019s decision to create a new administrative planning area, the South-Central Gulf of America.\u201d<\/p>\n