Trump wants more oil drilling in federal waters. Is the Central Coast at risk?

For the first time in about 40 years, the Trump administration could offer federal waters off the Central Coast to new oil extraction projects.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Interior released a proposal to open about 1.48 billion acres of land to oil and gas lease sales offshore California, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

The proposal includes six leases offshore California, seven offshore the Gulf of Mexico and 21 offshore Alaska.

A map of the lease areas shows the potential for new oil drilling down the entire coast of California. An interactive map is available online at bit.ly/44w4S70.

The order, called “Unleashing American Offshore Energy,” would terminate and replace the leasing program approved by the Biden administration, which offered only three new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and none in California or Alaska, according to the U.S. Department of Interior.

“The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America’s offshore production,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a news release. “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.”

A coalition of California lawmakers, however, vowed to fight any new oil extraction in federal waters adjacent to The Golden State.

“Our coastline, and our ecosystems, and our coastal economy is not for sale,” Senator Alex Padilla said in a press conference Thursday. “It is unmatched, and we will not let Donald Trump sell it out, or sell it off.”

San Luis Obispo County’s United States Representatives Salud Carbajal and Jimmy Panetta also joined the press conference to denounce the proposal.

Carbajal, who represents all of Santa Barbara County, the northern tip of Ventura County and the southern end of San Luis Obispo County, said 21 of the state’s 27 oil platforms exist in his district — calling it “ground zero for oil development in California.”

The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and 2015 Refugio Oil Spill killed marine life and left oil slicks on the beaches in his district, he said.

“Here in Santa Barbara, we understand the threat that offshore oil drilling poses to our environment and our economy and our way of life,” Carbajal said. “Despite knowing the problems that come from the oil drilling, this administration is putting the oil industry interest ahead of our community’s well-being.”

Panetta agreed.

“We stand here together, shoulder to shoulder, to let this administration know that we are ready and willing to go toe to toe with any president, with any corporation, with anybody who threatens our beauty and bounty and the coastal economies of the great state of California,” he said at the press conference.

Will new offshore oil drilling open up in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara counties?

While the proposal designated California, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico as the sites for the new leases, it did not identify the exact lease locations.

The Environmental Defense Center is most concerned about the expansion of oil extraction in the Santa Barbara Channel, which stretches from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County in the north to Point Dume in Ventura County to the south.

“It is such an ecologically rich and sensitive region with a history of oil spills,” Environmental Defense Center deputy chief counsel Maggie Hall said. “We learned from those disasters that there’s no safe and responsible way to do oil drilling.”

In 1969, an oil well “experienced a blowout” in the Santa Barbara Channel, causing what was at that time the largest oil spill in U.S. waters in history, NPR reported.

The Surfrider Foundation’s Central California regional manager Bill Hickman agreed that the Santa Barbara Channel was at risk, but it’s less likely for new drilling to occur north of Point Conception.

He said the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, which prohibits all new leases for oil and gas development in state waters, offers the state some protection from oil production. Oil drilling is also prohibited in national marine sanctuaries, like the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary in San Luis Obispo County and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 1448 would require the State Lands Commission to consider environmental and public health factors before allowing offshore oil projects to use infrastructure in state waters to bring oil onshore. If passed, the bill would basically prohibit oil companies from using that infrastructure.

While this would create another roadblock for offshore oil, corporations could find a way around it.

Sable Offshore Oil Corp., which is trying to restart operations at an ExxonMobil offshore oil field on the Gaviota Coast, already proposed using oil tankers to bypass the need for infrastructure in state waters, “which is even more dangerous than the current operation,” Hickman said.

What’s most important, he said, is preventing lease sales in federal waters in the first place.

“There’s lots of opposition to offshore oil drilling in California, from both the citizens and elected officials,” Hickman said. “Our goal is to show strong opposition here and kick California off the table for future offshore oil drilling.”

State Assemblymember Dawn Addis said offering new leases for oil drilling would set back the state’s progress.

“California is cutting emissions while growing our economy as we lead into the future,” she said in a statement. “It’s time for the federal administration to work with, not against, our great state. I have always fought to protect our coast and advance our clean-energy future, and I will continue to work towards removing California from this proposal.”

State Senator John Laird agreed, and urged Californians to submit public comment to oppose the proposal.

“The Trump administration’s push for offshore oil drilling off California’s waters is dangerously flawed. It doesn’t just jeopardize our local tourist economy — built on clean beaches and healthy marine life — it puts fishing livelihoods at risk from industrial activity and inevitable spills,” he said in a statement.

How to comment on the proposed oil leases

On Monday, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management opened a 60-day public comment period, ending on Jan. 23.

Submit a comment online at bit.ly/4acRTLb.

People can also mail comments to Ms. Kelly Hammerle, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (VAM-LD), 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166-9216. Label the envelope “Comments for the 11th National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program.”

The U.S. Department of Interior will use the public’s comments to revise the proposal.