Dangerous Five-Year Plan Will Wreck California’s Coast with New Oil Drilling
The Interior Department’s offshore leasing plan would expand offshore leasing off California
Press Release Date: November 20, 2025
Location: Monterey, Calif.
Contact:
Cory Gunkel, Ashley Blacow | email: cgunkel@oceana.org, ablacow@oceana.org | tel: Cory Gunkel, 1.831.643.9220
Today, the Trump administration released its draft offshore drilling plan for the next five years, which proposes opening federal waters off the entire state of California to oil leasing. Protected waters including critical habitat for endangered species, deep sea coral gardens, as well as military operations have been proposed for new offshore oil leases in the draft program. The plan proposes six offshore lease sales in California between 2027 and 2030. The plan also opens a portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and areas off Alaska to offshore oil leases.
“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. “California is well along its transition away from offshore drilling, with numerous oil platforms already in various stages of decommissioning. Oceana stands united with state and federal elected officials from both parties, local communities, and the public who have resoundingly opposed the expansion of offshore drilling over the last several decades to protect the future of our coast forever.”
“This plan is a dangerous gift to the oil and gas industry at the expense of our planet and shared future,” said Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, Azul Founder and Executive Director. “This administration wants to open the entire coast of California to offshore drilling – gutting environmental safeguards and endangering communities in the process. Latino voters across California, and across party lines, overwhelmingly reject more offshore drilling, as seen in our 2024 National Azul Poll. Our communities have lived the consequences of oil spills and pollution, and they are calling on our leaders to move us beyond fossil fuels.”
“We cannot allow for offshore oil and gas expansion on the West Coast. Coastal property owners, businesses, their communities and visitors were severely harmed by California’s 2015 and 2021 offshore oil spills,” said Grant Bixby, Principal Broker, Bixby Residential Group, and founding member of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast (@BAPPC), which represents over 8,100 West Coast business members. “Our own clients who operate vacation rentals received cancellations for months, and those visitors were lost to hundreds of other local businesses up and down the coast. Our harbors and beaches were completely shut down. Any offshore drilling is not worth the economic and environmental risk to our state which relies on a clean coast.”
“In Santa Barbara we know first-hand the danger of offshore oil drilling. The catastrophic 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and the 2015 Plains Oil Spill are examples that there is no way to drill for new oil without causing devastating impacts to our coastal environment, tourism and recreation, and economy,” said Maggie Hall, Deputy Chief Counsel at the Environmental Defense Center.
The National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, also known as the Five-Year Plan, determines where the federal government will sell leases for offshore drilling from 2026-2031. No new leases have been issued in federal waters off California since 1984. California banned drilling in state waters three decades ago and has a long, bipartisan history opposing expanded offshore drilling. Governor Newsom called the proposed plan “dead on arrival.”
More than 100 municipalities, Tribal Councils, fishery managers, businesses, ports, and elected officials from both parties have opposed drilling off the West Coast over the past decade.
The introduction of this new draft opens a 60-day comment period in which the public can voice its concerns. After this comment period is complete, the Trump administration will issue a proposed program, with an additional 90-day comment period. Following that 90-day comment period, the administration will release the Proposed Final Program that will be sent to Congress for at least 60 days for consideration prior to finalizing the Five-Year Plan.
The process began with a Request For Information (RFI) on April 30 that started a 45-day comment period to allow stakeholders to provide input on offshore oil and gas drilling. The period closed with more than 85,000 comments, many of which opposed expanded lease sales.
A poll released by Oceana in July 2024 revealed that two-thirds of American voters (64%) polled support their elected officials protecting U.S. coastlines from new offshore drilling, with similar support among registered voters in coastal states (66%).
The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill combined damaged more than 90 miles of pristine coastline and impacted at least 935 square miles of ocean — an area almost twice the size of the city of Los Angeles.
For more information about Oceana’s campaign to prevent the expansion of offshore drilling in the United States, please click here.
