Central Coast lawmakers’ bill would ban new oil drilling as a ‘direct pushback’ on Trump
Two local lawmakers are seeking a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling — including to hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” — on federal lands on California’s Central Coast.
The move comes a month after California sued President Donald Trump’s Bureau of Land Management over the proposed opening of more than 1 million acres of public land to oil and gas drilling.
On Friday, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal announced that he and fellow Democrat, Congresswoman Julia Brownley, introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives titled The California’s Land Preservation and Protection Act.
In a news release Friday, Carbajal’s office called the bill a “direct pushback on the Trump administration’s decision allowing the Bureau of Land Management to pursue oil and gas leasing on over 1.2 million acres of California land, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.”
Carbajal represents the 24th Congressional District, encompassing all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties as well as a sliver of northern Ventura County. Brownley’s 26th District represents the remainder of Ventura County.
According to the language of the bill, California’s Land Preservation and Protection Act prohibits the Bureau of Land Management from authorizing future oil and gas leasing until the department publishes a comprehensive environmental impact statement to assess potential effects on climate change, air quality, water, wildlife, emissions, and impacted communities.
Carbajal’s office notes that impacted communities include low-income and indigenous communities, and communities of color.
The law would mandate that, should the environmental evaluation find adverse impacts, the federal agency would not be permitted to move forward with new drilling and development.
“We cannot stand by as the Trump administration pollutes our environment and auctions off our public lands, health, safety and economy,” Carbajal said in a prepared statement. “My bill will stop the Bureau of Land Management from proceeding with any oil and gas activities that are detrimental to our environment, it promotes comprehensive research and it enhances environmental justice in our communities.”
He added: “The health of our Central Coast public land is key to the health of our communities — we will not be exploited by this administration and special interests.”
In December, the Trump administration signed an order intended to open up more than 1 million acres of land in California, from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley, using fracking and conventional oil drilling.
The decision ends a five-year moratorium on public land fracking and drilling.
Fracking is a common term for “hydraulic fracturing,” where drillers shoot a high-pressure stream of water or other chemicals into rock in order to crack it open to extract the oil or gas within.
In January, California’s administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom filed the lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s order in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental review on fracking in California failed to fully evaluate “the significant and adverse impacts” on communities in those counties.
The lawsuit was joined in support by environmental groups Los Padres ForestWatch and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Sacramento Bee Staff Writer Andrew Sheeler contributed to this report.
