Senate Bills Seek to Block Offshore Drilling Off East and West Coasts
WASHINGTON — A pair of bills introduced in the Senate aim to permanently block oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The combo package of legislations includes the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act, introduced by Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J. and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
Padilla’s bill would permanently prohibit new oil and gas leases for offshore drilling off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington state.
The Booker and Reed bill would permanently bar the Interior Department or any of its agencies from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil and gas in the North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Straits of Florida Planning Areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, are leading companion legislation in the House.
“We must end offshore oil drilling in coastal waters once and for all,” Padilla said in a written statement.
“Over 50 years ago, after a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, Californians rose up and demanded environmental protections, spurring the modern environmental movement and creating the very first Earth Day,” he said.
“As the Trump administration threatens to recklessly open our coasts to new drilling, California and the West Coast need permanent safeguards to protect our communities from the devastation of fossil fuels and disastrous oil spills,” he continued, adding, “We must act now to fulfill the promises we made to our children and our constituents to meet the urgency of this environmental crisis with bold action.”
As Padilla referenced, California began efforts to block offshore drilling in 1969 when an oil rig off the coast of Santa Barbara leaked 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, blanketing beaches with a thick layer of oil and killing thousands of marine mammals and birds. It was the largest oil spill in U.S. history until the Exxon Valdez spill 20 years later.
HIs native California is also approaching the 10th anniversary of the Refugio State Beach Oil Spill, in which a Plains All American Pipeline in Santa Barbara County ruptured and spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil, marking the worst spill in the area since 1969 and impacting some of the most biologically diverse regions along the California coast.
After the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, California blocked all new offshore oil drilling in state waters, protecting coastal waters up to three miles from the shore. The state reinforced that ban in 1994 by passing the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, which prohibited new leasing in state waters.
However, in 2018, the Trump administration released a five-year offshore leasing plan that proposed opening up the entire West Coast to new drilling despite widespread opposition in Pacific coast states.
This proposal was blocked by the courts, but the threat of drilling remains until a permanent ban is enacted, the senator said.
Booker noted that this week marks both Earth Day and the 15th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
“I’m standing alongside my colleagues in the House and Senate to reaffirm our commitment to protecting our communities and our environment,” he said in a statement. “Offshore drilling endangers our coastal communities — both their lives and their livelihoods — and threatens marine species and ecosystems.
“The COAST Act, along with this critical package of legislation, will ensure that marine seascapes along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and the wildlife, industries, and communities that rely on them, are protected from the dangers of fossil fuel drilling.”
Reed said the legislation is about more than simply protecting the environment, “it’s also about protecting the tourism and fishing industries that create jobs and help power Rhode Island’s economy.”
The senators noted that taken together, coastal counties in the U.S. support 54.6 million jobs, produce $10 trillion in goods and services, and pay $4 trillion in wages.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and on X @DanMcCue
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