Trump Governance Revives Offshore Drilling Plans for California and Florida Coasts
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is moving forward wiht plans to allow new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida, reversing a ban put in place by the Biden administration and reigniting a long-standing battle over offshore energy progress. The move, which has drawn immediate criticism from california officials and environmental groups, aims to increase U.S.energy production by removing regulatory barriers.
A spokesman for California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that while the plan hadn’t been formally shared,”expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies.”
The initiative centers on a proposal by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., backed by the trump administration, to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara, California, an area impacted by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has touted the project as an example of the kind of development President Trump sought to encourage, aiming to bolster U.S. energy dominance.
President Trump initially reversed former President Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts through an executive order signed early in his term. Though, a federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.
California has a history of restricting offshore oil drilling dating back to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, a pivotal event in the rise of the modern environmental movement. While drilling continues from existing platforms, no new federal leases have been offered since the mid-1980s. Newsom has voiced support for greater offshore controls, particularly following a 2021 oil spill off Huntington beach, and has supported congressional efforts to ban new drilling on the West Coast.
Democratic lawmakers, including California Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and Representative Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, issued a warning that expanding offshore drilling would “devastate coastal economies, jeopardize our national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put millions of Americans’ health and safety at risk.”
In a letter signed by dozens of Democrats, the lawmakers highlighted the economic consequences of oil spills, stating thay “not only cause irreparable environmental damage, but also suppress the value of coastal homes, harm tourism economies and weaken coastal infrastructure.” They pointed to the potential for billions of dollars in taxpayer costs related to cleanup, lost revenue, and ecosystem restoration following a major spill.
Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, labeled the Trump administration’s plan “an oil spill nightmare,” emphasizing the economic reliance of coastal communities on healthy oceans and the potential for long-lasting damage from future spills. “We need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry,” he said. “There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”
