Environmental groups are worried about the executive order signed by President Trump on Friday which could reopen parts of the California coastline to new offshore oil and gas leases for the first time in three decades.
Trump signed what’s known as the “America First Offshore Energy Executive Order.” It could open federally regulated areas of the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans to new exploration.
The Santa Barbara based Environmental Defense Center, which has battled oil and gas development for 40 years, calls the move a misguided attack on our climate.
EDC Executive Director Owen Bailey says it’s a dangerous proposal, and notes the huge damage caused by the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel oil spill, the more recent 2015 accident on the Gaviota coastline.
Trump Administration officials admit new oil drilling off the California coastline might be a tough sell.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has to implement the order, mentioned that he was in Santa Barbara just a few days ago, and that the community made it clear it doesn't like offshore development. He says the administration will consider public opinion in areas where new drilling might occur.
There are more than two dozen platforms currently operating off the state’s coastline, and the last leases in federal waters were issued in 1984.