{"id":492964,"date":"2026-02-27T04:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/492964\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T04:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:37:10","slug":"next-step-in-trumps-california-offshore-oil-drilling-effort-announced-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/492964\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Step in Trump’s California Offshore Oil Drilling Effort Announced | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a step toward leasing areas for offshore oil and gas drilling in California this week, by launching an associated environmental process.<\/p>\n

BOEM announced Thursday <\/a>the department would prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement for lease sales in northern, central and southern California.<\/p>\n

A soon-to-be-released statement will primarily concern sales planned for 2027 in central and southern California, according to BOEM.<\/p>\n

A Northern California lease sale is proposed for 2029, according to a BOEM document.<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a California-specific part of a broader effort by the Trump Administration to open lease areas in federal waters across the country for sale to oil and gas companies, with an aim to restore domestic energy production.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia households are facing an energy affordability crisis, and inaction is no longer an option,\u201d said Acting BOEM Director Matt Giacona in a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Notice of Intent reflects the administration\u2019s commitment to responsibly evaluating offshore leasing as part of a broader strategy to lower costs, strengthen energy security, and support American jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The notice for leases in southern and central California will be published Friday in the Federal Register, which opens a 30-day public scoping period, according to BOEM.<\/p>\n

During this period, \u201cBOEM invites input from tribal, state, and local governments, stakeholders, and the public. Comments will help identify key issues, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation measures for consideration in the programmatic environmental impact statement,\u201d the BOEM press release said.<\/p>\n

This process is required under the National Environmental Policy Act.<\/p>\n

The controversial proposal to open new leases in California waters for the first time in decades, an idea formally introduced in a proposed draft plan released in late 2025, has seen widespread opposition from leaders in California.<\/p>\n

A letter from lawmakers, including Rep. Jared Huffman, a vocal opponent of the proposal, blasted the Trump Administration\u2019s efforts to open the California coast to drilling.<\/a><\/p>\n

These members of congress called for a 90-day extension of the public comment period in the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia\u2019s coastal economy supports roughly 511,000 jobs and generates over $51.3 billion in GDP from marine-economy activities \u2014 largely in tourism and recreation \u2014 meaning that new offshore drilling could jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of working families,\u201d Tuesday\u2019s letter said.<\/p>\n

In anticipation of the 2025 proposal, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors narrowly passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling in October. The City of Arcata followed. The Humboldt Bay Harbor District is working on an ordinance to limit offshore oil support facilities in Humboldt Bay.<\/p>\n

The proposal to open California to offshore drilling was quickly met with backlash, with opponents pointing to past oil spills \u2014 including a significant 1969 spill in Santa Barbara, CA. The state hasn\u2019t seen a new lease sale in federal waters since 1984.<\/p>\n


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Matt Simmons, attorney for the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center, which is opposed to offshore drilling, argued any environmental considerations by the federal government on drilling will be \u201csorely lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump EPA has very partisanly and very openly talked about how they want to deregulate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite EPIC\u2019s skepticism the feds will undertake a robust environmental review, the organization is urging the public to comment on the environmental effects of offshore drilling in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the part of the process where you tell the EPA what they need to consider in their draft, before they write the draft,\u201d explained Simmons.<\/p>\n

Public comment information can be found at: www.boem.gov\/CA-OGPEIS<\/a><\/p>\n

PREVIOUSLY<\/p>\n

Local and State Leaders Slam Trump Administration\u2019s Offshore Oil Drilling Plan at Packed Eureka Public Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

Board Narrowly Approves Resolution Against Offshore Drilling and Mining<\/a><\/p>\n

State and Local Reps React to Trump Plan to Open More than 1 Billion Acres to New Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling<\/a><\/p>\n

Arcata City Council Adopts Resolution Opposing Offshore Oil Drilling<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a step toward leasing areas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-492964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}