BOEM Releases Call Areas for California Offshore Drilling Plan
On Monday, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management began the process for an offshore oil and gas lease sale off California with the publication of two call areas, which cover the southern and central areas of the state. The announcement suggests that the first lease sales will occur next year - giving time for local opposition, which has already begun to gather momentum.
"We’re taking the first step toward a stronger, more secure American energy future," said BOEM Acting Director Matt Giacona, formerly a senior government relations executive with the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the International Association of Drilling Contractors. "These calls begin a careful analysis of two key areas with promising resource potential on the Outer Continental Shelf to help guide future decisions about potential leasing and development."
Vigorous local pushback is expected. Recent polling by the Public Policy Institute of California suggests that 65 percent of the state's voters oppose offshore drilling, and all of the Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation are united against it as well, including representatives of all coastal districts. California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a formal objection to the plan, joined by Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson.
California notes that the state's opposition has historically been bipartisan: Republican and Democratic state leaders alike have sought to block offshore drilling off California for the past 40 years, according to the California Natural Resources Agency.
In other frontier areas outside of the U.S. Gulf Coast, BOEM has yet to move forward with proposals for drilling, though the potential for leasing in these areas is listed in the administration's draft five-year offshore E&P plan. Republican representatives in Alaska, the Southeast and Florida all oppose offshore E&P near their shores. In Florida, the powerful Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is opposed to the idea of drilling off the Panhandle - long anathema to coastal Florida voters and leaders, who value the state's tourism industry and are concerned about potential spill impacts. In the far north, Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan have both petitioned the administration to refocus its efforts on Cook Inlet, an area where drilling has been done before, and to discard a proposal to lease areas in the High Arctic, Bering Strait and Beaufort Sea - undeveloped regions where spill-response resources could be a thousand miles away.
Charts accompanying BOEM's California call notice show that the call areas encompass the majority of the Chumash Heritage, Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries, as well as large segments of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The call areas exclude a thin coastal margin extending shoreward of the California State waters boundary.
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The call is a request for interest and information, and is not necessarily indicative of a final plan for leasing opportunities. Environmental NGOs have already begun voicing opposition to the proposal.
"California knows all too well that oil spills kill wildlife, contaminate fisheries, tarnish beaches, and impact people reliant on clean oceans," said Ashley Blacow-Draeger, Field Campaign Manager for Oceana, in a statement last year. "California is well along its transition away from offshore drilling, with numerous oil platforms already in various stages of decommissioning."
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