The Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling across more than 1.2 billion acres of ocean has concerned coastal residents and the tourism industry.
Trump administration reopens hundreds of millions of acres for oil drilling
The Trump administration has reinstated oil and gas leases across hundreds of millions of acres of federal land and waters.
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Nature lovers, scientists and politicians are concerned that California’s beloved coastline, from redwood forests to Santa Monica, is at risk from the Trump administration’s recent call to expand offshore drilling.
Oil and gas industry leaders praised the plan, but environmentalists and California lawmakers quickly condemned it, concerned that an oil spill or other incident could wreak havoc on tourism and natural resources along the coast. They say the millions of tourists and residents who visit scenic spots contribute tens of billions of dollars to the state’s coastal economy.
Concerns extend far beyond California to Florida’s coastal economy and Alaska’s remote nature preserves.
The plan announced Thursday by the Interior Department calls for expanded drilling and lease sales on more than 1.2 billion acres of ocean off the coasts of California, Alaska and the Gulf States. It is proposing 34 potential offshore lease sales, including areas that were previously protected.
“With this draft plan, Donald Trump and his administration seek to destroy one of the world’s most valuable and most protected coastlines and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry,” California Democrats, Rep. Jared Huffman and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), said in a joint statement.
Joseph Gordon, campaign director at ocean conservation group Oceana, said coastal communities and their multibillion-dollar economies depend on healthy oceans to survive.
But oil and gas industry advocates praised the announcement, citing potential benefits to the country’s energy resources and economy.
“Predictable leasing programs allow companies to plan and invest in best-in-class systems, ensuring offshore development proceeds with the highest levels of safety, environmental management and community engagement,” said Frank Maisano, an expert representing the oil, gas and renewables industry.
Maisano added that robust offshore oil and gas development could add more than $8 billion in additional government revenue by 2040.
“Getting substantial leasing programs back on track will restore energy security, protect American jobs, and strengthen the nation’s ability to lead in energy for decades to come,” said Jarrod Agen, executive director of the National Energy Governance Council, in an Interior Department news release.
California worries about oil spill
Economic victories for some industries may come at a cost for others. Richard Frank, director of the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy at the University of California, Davis, said offshore drilling would undermine California’s tourism industry, one of the largest in the world.
“The economic value of having a clean, robust environment that attracts tourists from all over the world is considered to be incalculable compared to the economic benefits of oil and gas development in a particular area,” Frank said.
Grant Bixby of the Pacific Coast Conservation Business Alliance said in a video call hosted by California’s Congressional delegation that the state’s coasts are frequented by more than 150 million tourists annually.
He added more than 653,000 jobs and nearly $54 billion in gross domestic product that depend on the state’s clean beaches and healthy oceans. Bixby said the alliance and its sister organizations represent “more than 55,000 companies that believe offshore oil and gas has a negative impact on their business.”
Offshore drilling remains deeply unpopular nationally, with two-thirds of U.S. voters opposed to new drilling, according to recent polls, according to the Surfrider Foundation.
“This new drilling project threatens wildlife, local communities, and the coastal recreation and tourism industry that contributes billions of dollars to our nation’s economy,” said Chad Nelsen, CEO of the foundation.
Previous oil spills sparked opposition
Businesses and residents living in areas where previous oil spills have occurred continue to have lasting memories of the aftermath.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium said in a Nov. 20 news release that the devastation inflicted on California’s coastal environment and communities in the 1969 explosion off a Santa Barbara offshore drilling rig took decades to recover.
Another such catastrophic spill along the coast “could wipe out vulnerable species such as the southern sea otter, which has a limited range,” and could harm many other species, including blue whales, humpback whales and leatherback sea turtles, the aquarium said.
“The science is clear,” said Julie Packard, the aquarium’s executive director. “As we face the life-threatening effects of climate change, this reckless effort to open large swathes of our oceans to offshore oil and gas leases is a major setback in the transition away from fossil fuels that this country urgently needs.”
During the October 2021 ocean spill off the coast of California, more than 1 million people attending the air show were sent home early, leaving restaurants and hotels without customers for weeks, Bixby said.
“Californians remember every spill, every dead dolphin and sea otter, every fishing season ruined by pollution,” Huffman and Padilla said. Despite the damage caused by past spills, the state’s coastal economy is currently worth $1.7 trillion and is booming.
opposition is expected
The two vowed to contest the drilling plan.
“This plan targets California and the entire West Coast because they think we’re going to roll over,” Padilla and Huffman said in a joint statement. “They’re wrong, and we’re going to fight this with everything we have.”
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) pointed to the disaster the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill caused along the Gulf Coast. “People are going to feel angry, angry and betrayed,” Castor said. “This is unnecessary and unwanted, and we will fight tooth and nail.”
Frank expects lawsuits to pile up quickly if the draft program is approved.
“I’m confident that Americans across political lines will come together to fight President Trump’s plan to dump toxic oil on our nation’s coasts and oceans,” said Kristen Monsell, ocean legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting endangered species. “If President Trump can actually push through his plan, I can’t imagine a world where we don’t have lawsuits over this horrific plan,” Monsell said.
Nelsen, CEO of the Surfrider Foundation, said the group has “defeated the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters before, and we are ready to do it again.”
Dinah Boyles Pulver and Terry Collins are national correspondents for USA TODAY. Please contact us at dpulver@usatoday.com and tcollins@usatoday.com.
