Local environmentalists and opponents of offshore drilling have welcomed President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will order a ban on new oil and gas drilling, including along California’s coastline, where the risks far outweigh the benefits. It is claimed that there is.
The move comes as the end of Biden’s term approaches. Biden is using powers under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to restrict more than 625 million acres, the largest withdrawal in U.S. history. The safeguards he is ordering limit new offshore drilling and natural gas leasing along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s northern Bering Sea coast.
Read more: Biden issues ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in most federal waters. President Trump vows to reverse it
Chad Nelsen, CEO of the Surfrider Foundation, called Biden’s latest regulations “great news.”
“Offshore drilling is a dirty and dangerous business, as we saw in Huntington Beach just a few years ago,” he says. “It is unpopular and threatens our coastal environment and communities.”
For Southern Californians, the effects of the 25,000-gallon oil spill off Huntington Beach in 2021 are still fresh, killing wildlife and shutting down beaches and coastal fisheries for weeks. Ta. A $50 million class-action lawsuit brought by local fisheries officials, tourism companies and homeowners has resulted in a $50 million settlement, with millions more awarded to government agencies.
Nelsen said Biden’s actions will help solidify the president’s pro-conservation stance to protect oceans and lands across the country.
Garry Brown, founder and president of Orange County Coastkeeper, said several environmental groups came together last year and signed a letter to Congress and the White House urging this move.
Already since 1969, offshore leases in California waters (usually within three nautical miles of the coast) have been suspended, and the last federal lease sale in the area was in 1984, Brown said. .
“While we are very pleased and this provides additional protection, we have been adamant for decades that there should be no more oil drilling off the coast of California,” Brown said. . “It’s nice to have more protection, but I didn’t really feel that threatened.”
Still, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the president’s decision a “bold move.”
“Thanks to President Biden’s action today, hundreds of miles of California’s iconic coastline are fully protected from expanded offshore drilling. “We have led the fight to protect the millions of Californians who call our coastal communities home,” Newsom said in a statement.
Philip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, said the agency was not aware of the expected local impact of Biden’s new order. Representatives from the Western States Petroleum Association were not immediately available for comment.
What needs to be figured out, Brown said, is the future of existing platforms and operations still underway offshore. There are about 30 concessions off the coast of Southern California that have been in existence for decades. The President’s order does not affect rights under existing leases.
“This is going to be a nightmare for years to come. They’re reaching the end of their usefulness and lifespan, and it’s very expensive to remove them,” Brown said. “There’s no clear way how they are retrieved.”
Staff writers Donna Littlejohn and Kristy Hutchings contributed to this report.
