Public hearings this week could influence the future of oil production, rocket launches and other federal industrial projects off California’s coast.
The Trump administration is evaluating the state’s Coastal Commission and other coastal agencies. Depending on the outcome, the state could lose its authority to review and regulate projects that involve the coastline.
Coastal leaders and environmentalists across California, including San Diego County, said the results of the federal government’s new review are already predetermined.
“The current federal administration is behaving in an unprecedented way, and they are very excited to advance offshore oil drilling and other types of projects off the California coast,” said Jennifer Savage, the Surfrider Foundation’s California policy manager.
A routine review that the Biden administration largely completed last year showed favorability with the agencies managing the coast, she said.
In May, however, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said California “has repeatedly and unfoundedly obstructed spaceport development in bad faith.”
Spaceport development could include construction of infrastructure for spacecraft to launch and land. The Coastal Commission had rejected a request last year from the U.S. Space Force to increase SpaceX rocket launches off California’s coast due to concerns over beach closures and environmental and noise impacts.
Lutnick ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assess California’s compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act, which “aims to balance competing land and water issues through state and territorial coastal management programs,” according to NOAA. He said the review should also look into whether California has interfered with “offshore oil production, maintenance of pipelines, and desalination.”
State. Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, who represents 60 miles of coastline off San Diego and Orange counties, said if the federal government decides to weaken the state’s authority to protect the coastline, the health of the public and environment is at risk.
"This is objectionable in every way because when we drill, we spill,” she said. “Drilling off the coast of California will not lower gas prices. It will not lead us to have a smaller supply chain or some sort of meaningful difference in really anything except risk.”
Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Diego, agreed, saying in a statement, in part, that “California's coastline drives our economy. Tourism, recreation, fisheries, deep water port commerce, all of it. Opening the coast up to Big Oil puts every bit of that at risk, and we know it because we've seen it happen before.”
Advocates said they hope the public will show the federal government how much the state’s economy relies on a healthy coast.
“We hope that people come out and speak about that reality,” said Savage. You know, what it means for them to be at the beach, how they use the coast, how their businesses thrive, whether they're fishermen or they have a, you know, surf shop.”
NOAA has scheduled virtual public meetings from 2-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Additional comments can be made online through Aug. 22.
The federal agency has not announced when it expects to finalize its review.
