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The Trump administration is attempting to drill oil off the shore of California, something that hasn't happened in more than 4 decades. This would be the first fossil fuel development in California since the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill that killed thousands of animals and caused millions of dollars of harm to California's fishing industry.
Since then, drilling has been prohibited in California state waters. There has been no new leasing in federal waters off the coast of California since the 1980s.
Gavin Newsom rolls his eyes
Gov. of California, Gavin Newsom, has emerged as one of Trump's most vocal adversaries and is unsurprisingly not pleased with Trump's directive.
“Our coastal communities depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life… If this is the plan, the Trump administration must go back to the drawing board. There's too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”
-Joseph Gordon – Oceana
In response to the directive, Newsom rolled his eyes and said the plan would be “dead on arrival” once it got to California, and that the state would “absolutely” challenge the plan in court once it's finalized.
Newsom is currently in Brazil for the United Nations climate summit, but still made comments to the media, noting that Donald Trump did not suggest drilling offshore of Mar-A-Lago, something he finds “remarkable.”
“He didn't promote it off the coast of Florida… That says everything about Donald Trump.”
-Gavin Newsom
The proposed drilling area in the Pacific Ocean would be off Santa Barbara County, where a small amount of drilling is reportedly already occurring.
Texas-based oil company Sable Offshore is seeking to reactivate three idle drilling rigs in federal waters off Santa Barbara that have sat empty since a 2015 oil spill. In May, the company began producing oil from one of those rigs under an existing lease, but the drilling resulted in a lawsuit from California attorney general, Rob Bonta. Bonta claimed company was illegally discharging waste into local waterways.
Newsom also sent a letter last month, reiterating that California is “firmly opposed” to developments in fossil fuel.
