Trump Administration Tells California to Drop Offshore Drilling Opposition or Lose Coastal Funding
The Trump administration has told California it will lose federal coastal funding, and possibly its authority over its coastline, unless state regulators drop what it calls “political bias” against offshore drilling and SpaceX.
The demands come in the draft findings of a 92-page federal review obtained by the Los Angeles Times through a public records request. The review was conducted by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.
The review cites “a pattern of jurisdictional and regulatory overreach” and says California coastal authorities have shown “unjustified hostility and political bias against offshore drilling opportunities, oil and gas projects broadly, and SpaceX’s launch activities.”
It says future federal funding for the state’s coastal management program has been suspended “unless and until the identified deficiencies are satisfactorily addressed.”
What Washington Wants
At the top of more than a dozen “corrective actions,” the review directs the California Coastal Commission to meet with SpaceX to discuss “outstanding concerns about political bias” and “productive next steps moving forward.”
It also tells coastal regulators to meet with Sable Offshore Corp., a Texas-based oil company that has sought to restart a long-idle offshore operation off the Santa Barbara coast over state objections.
The state’s lead coastal agency must also pledge by January that California “will not categorically oppose” initiatives tied to certain industries, “such as oil and gas,” or activities “such as offshore drilling,” according to the draft.
The fight centers on the Coastal Zone Management Act, a 1972 law that lets coastal states with federally approved programs review and object to federal projects affecting their shorelines.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ordered the fresh review earlier this year using a “new approach” that weighs offshore oil, pipelines, spaceport infrastructure and undersea cables, part of a broader administration push for domestic fossil fuel production.
California’s three coastal agencies have until Nov. 16 to respond to the draft findings, the Times reported. Coastal Commission spokesperson Joshua Smith said the commission requested a 15-day extension, as allowed under federal rules.
“The commission was disappointed to receive this draft evaluation given our long history of stellar reviews from the federal government,” Smith said, adding that the commission approves or negotiates changes to projects 96% of the time.
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot called the review “a preordained political attack.” “The aim of their rigged review is obvious — to strong-arm California on behalf of oil companies,” he said, according to the Times.
Environmental groups have also objected, with the Surfrider Foundation declaring that “California’s Coast Is Not a Bargaining Chip.” Hundreds of residents rallied at an August federal hearing in Santa Monica.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the administration’s use of the law “blatantly illegal” and said the coast could be “for sale to Big Oil, Elon Musk, and any other high bidder.”
The review said some public commenters argued California’s agencies are “flatly opposed to offshore oil and gas development” and that their handling of oil and spaceport projects poses “a threat to national security.”
More than 23,000 written comments were submitted, and about 95% backed the state, the Times reported. Federal officials deemed only 22 of them “complex,” and about 12 of those criticized California’s program.
Federal officials will issue final determinations after the state responds. Legal experts told the Times no state has ever been stripped of its coastal authority this way, leaving the next steps in uncharted legal territory.
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