Trump plan would allow oil drilling all along California coast

If the Trump administration had its way, oil rigs could soon start drilling along the entire California coast, according to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Drilling could take place in the pristine waters off of Sonoma County and Big Sur, and theoretically even near the Golden Gate, if the administration were to find a way to bypass National Marine Sanctuary protections. 

California elected officials, environmental organizations and tourism and fishing industries expressed  opposition to the plan, which they’d been expecting and dreading for months. The documents confirmed that the administration plans to open federal waters, which run 3 miles to 200 miles from shore in California, to oil and gas leasing as soon as 2027, according to the Houston Chronicle.  

“This means the oil industry gets open season on the entire California coast,” said Richard Charter, who has worked on the issue for decades and directs a program that coordinates local governments concerned about the impact of offshore leasing on their economies. 

New leases for oil or gas drilling off the California coast have not been granted since 1984, and previous Republican presidents have joined Democrats in protecting the coast from drilling. But this is the second time Trump has attempted to open most of the nation’s waters, including along the California coast, to oil and gas drilling. He did so in 2018 during his first administration but was met with so much opposition that he abandoned it the following year.

Such a move would override federal protections in place for decades and would have to overcome state and local environmental regulations. Many coastal counties have ordinances restricting or prohibiting onshore infrastructure for oil drilling, which would make it all but impossible to bring oil collected in federal waters to shore, experts say. Oil companies would also have to obtain permission from the state Coastal Commission.

“For decades, California has been unwavering in our opposition to new offshore oil and gas drilling. The risk to our economy, coastal communities and public health from new offshore oil and gas development is simply too high,” said Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of California Natural Resources, in a statement. “If the Trump administration chooses to go down this path and sell out our coastal communities to the highest bidder, we will stand firm in our commitment to protecting our coastline and the people of California.”

Because of the obstacles the plan would face, opponents portrayed the move as mostly a political maneuver by President Donald Trump to rile Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the state as a whole.

“This administration is very punitive and wants to threaten California,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins of Sonoma County, where onshore oil drilling infrastructure is prohibited. Because of that, she noted oil companies would have difficulty transporting crude oil to a refinery, which in the Bay Area are located in Richmond and Martinez. However, she said, “Even if this is very difficult to achieve, we have to take this threat seriously.”

The Chronicle reached out to the White House and did not immediately receive a response.

The administration plans to open Southern California, a federally designated area that stretches from San Diego to Big Sur, to leases in 2027, 2029 and 2030; Central California, which runs north to the Sonoma-Mendocino County border and includes the Bay Area, in 2027 and 2029; and Northern California, which stretches to the Oregon border, in 2029, according to a document obtained by the Houston Chronicle and reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Oil rigs could also drill off the East Coast for the first time since the 1980s under Trump’s plan, according to the Houston Chronicle — though Florida would keep its ban.

The leaked documents detail the administration’s national oil and gas plan, which it has said is designed to increase the country’s energy independence. The plan is expected to be made public at the end of the month and once released would likely go into law two months later, said Charter. If granted, the leases would not likely be revoked by later administrations, he said.

Opponents are concerned that Trump will also target the National Marine Sanctuaries that run from Point Arena (Mendocino County) to the Channel Islands, where oil drilling is prohibited. Those established after 2008 could be particularly vulnerable, Charter said. 

Newer sanctuaries include one protecting the Davidson Seamount, an underwater volcano off the Big Sur coast, and an extension of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which protects most of the Bay Area coast along with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The newer extension of the Greater Farallones runs between Bodega Head in Sonoma County and Point Arena in Mendocino County.

“The sanctuaries were developed almost specifically to defend against offshore drilling,” said Dick Ogg, a Bodega Bay fisherman who has chilling memories of the ecological damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989. In addition, he’s concerned about the potential ship traffic and losing areas to certain types of fishing, such as long lining.

“There’s a series of layers of protection in the sanctuaries that create additional impediments to offshore drilling,” Charter said. However, he added, “This administration is unpredictable — they’re tearing down the White House,” referring to Trump’s destruction of the East Wing for a new ballroom.

In 2018, Trump called for a “review” of National Marine Sanctuaries. 

The areas off the California coast are not very rich in oil resources except for the southern part of the state; farther north, natural gas would be the main objective, Charter said. However, if the leases were first made available in 2027, oil companies could do exploration to see what they find and then take out additional leases in 2029 in Central and Southern California, and again in 2030 in Southern California.

“This plan would put our coasts at risk — we need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry,” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the conservation group Oceana, in a statement.

An oil spill near Huntington Beach in 2021 released approximately 25,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. In 2015, 100,000 gallons of crude spilled from a pipeline carrying offshore oil near Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara. Both spills had major impacts on wildlife and local businesses.

In July, San Mateo County passed an ordinance conveying its “unwavering opposition” to oil and gas development both offshore and on public lands.

“It’s hard to imagine that anyone would want to damage the National Marine Sanctuary,” said Ray Mueller, a San Mateo County Supervisor who co-sponsored the ordinance.