Weeks after California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis spoke out against federal efforts to expand offshore oil drilling, state lawmakers told The Center Square that increased drilling is deeply unpopular among coastal residents.
Opponents warn against the environmental costs.
But supporters say technology has made drilling safer. They also note offshore drilling could boost America’s energy independence and lower gas prices in California, which typically has the highest in the U.S.
Legislators’ comments opposing the drilling come after the announcement in November 2025 that the U.S. Department of the Interior would expand oil and gas drilling leases not just off the Pacific Coast in areas such as Santa Barbara, but other sites on the nation’s outer continental shelf.
“We have a deep, visceral experience that is seared into the community’s consciousness about the risks of offshore oil development,” Assemblymember Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, told The Center Square. “We are adamantly opposed to the leasing. There’s been a bipartisan consensus for 40 years that we want to wind down offshore oil development, not expand it.”
According to a November 2025 order from the U.S. secretary of the interior, the program to increase oil drilling off American coastlines is meant to increase “national energy resilience” by increasing the number of oil drilling leases. That order mandated that four lease sales were planned for the coming months – one in December 2025, two in March 2026 and one in August 2026.
The first sale was held in December in New Orleans, attracting 219 bids from 26 companies that would include the increased oil production of 1.02 million acres in the Gulf of America, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. The last time oil drilling leases were sold in the Gulf of America, formerly the Gulf of Mexico, was in 2023.
Additional lease sales are planned for the Gulf of America and Cook Inlet in Alaska, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Despite no lease sales immediately planned off the coast of California, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to start auctioning six total oil drilling leases off the coast of California starting in 2027, according to a proposed program report from the bureau released in November. Three lease sales are planned in 2027 off the coast of Southern California, another two starting in 2027 off the coast of Central California and one off the coast of Northern California in 2029, the report states.
Community fears repeat of 1969 oil spill
Part of the federal government’s efforts to expand offshore oil drilling off the Southern California coast includes waters off the coast of Santa Barbara, which was the site of the largest oil spill in U.S. waters at the time, according to the Santa Barbara-based Community Environmental Council.
The January 1969 oil spill saw more than 4 million gallons of oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, killing thousands of sea animals and devastating local residents, lawmakers and community advocates told The Center Square. That oil spill, now the third-largest in the country’s history, was the inspiration for Earth Day, according to the council.
“I was 9 years old in Santa Barbara when the oil spill occurred,” Hart told The Center Square.
“It was a traumatic experience for the entire community,” the Assembly member said. “Pelicans were drowning in the oily goop, and the sounds were surreal because the sound of the waves were muted by the thick sludge.”
Adults at the time tried to shovel hay into the ocean to absorb the oil, Hart said, but noted there was no real plan to respond to a disaster on that scale.
“When there’s a spill – unlike on land, where it’s easily contained and managed – when there’s a catastrophic event that occurs in the ocean, the oil is dispersed along the entire coast,” Hart said. “It has devastating economic effects on the businesses that are truly producing value for the residents of California.”
According to figures sent to The Center Square by Santa Barbara County officials, oil companies have generated $512 million in revenues from oil drilling off the county’s coast. While those companies have been profitable, roughly $330 million of damage has been caused by oil spills near Santa Barbara’s coastline, officials said.
Environmental advocates in Santa Barbara told The Center Square this week that they don’t think expanding oil drilling off the coast is necessary. They say they hold out hope that clean energy will meet the state’s energy needs.
“This move is very tone-deaf to what’s actually happening in the clean energy space,” said Sigrid Wright, CEO and executive director at the Community Environmental Council.
“I don’t think this is intended, necessarily, to help the economy,” Wright told The Center Square. “I think this is a bit of a ruse.”
Developments in clean energy, Wright said, add significantly to the country’s economy.
“It makes no sense to us at all to kneecap the growing and very strong clean energy industry,” Wright said. “There’s considerable concern about spills, regardless of how you transport the oil, and you’re putting the marine environment at risk.”
Increased oil drilling leases, another environmental advocate said, undermine existing policy to protect California’s coastal environment and economy.
“One of our fears is that new leases being approved at the federal level might circumvent some of our strong environmental policies that are in place to protect our coastlines,” said Karina Johnston, executive director of Heal the Ocean, a Santa Barbara nonprofit seeking to reduce pollution.
“A huge portion of our economy is driven by tourism, recreation, beach access. And all that can be impacted on top of the environmental impacts from oil spills,” Johnson told The Center Square.
There is also pushback in Washington, D.C., from congressional representatives who represent California’s coastal districts.
“Despite clear opposition from public officials, environmental experts, and residents across our state, the Administration has proposed to sell California’s coastline to Big Oil. Let me be clear: this is a reckless and dangerous move,” said U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, in an emailed statement to The Center Square. “Trump’s plan puts delicate marine ecosystems at risk, undermines public health, and threatens the coastal economy – all so oil executives can line their pockets. Our community is ready to lead in this fight once again, and I will do everything in my power to ensure we rise to the challenge.”
Local efforts to combat the expansion of offshore oil drilling are underway as well. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted in December to deny permits to Sable Offshore Corp., which purchased the platforms, wells and pipeline systems in the county from ExxonMobil. Those offshore platforms are Hondo, Heritage and Harmony, and they can be seen from Haskell’s Beach in Goleta, a city just north of Santa Barbara.
The board’s denial of the permits was part of an ongoing effort to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling operations and phase out existing ones, county officials told The Center Square via email.
Officials said the phase-out would save the county an estimated $100 million mortality-related and climate damage expenses over the next 20 years.
“Environmentalism is in our DNA here in Santa Barbara County,” said Laura Capps, chair of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
“I’m one of many who are so opposed to offshore drilling,” Capps told The Center Square. “The expansion is in direct opposition to that.”
Sable Offshore Corp. representatives were not available to answer questions as of press time.
Drilling technology has improved, studies and experts say
Despite the dangers historically inherent in offshore oil drilling, the infrastructure for drilling has improved and grown more sophisticated in the decades since the 1969 oil spill, according to lawmakers and certain studies.
A recent study published in the World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews found that innovations in oil drilling technology revolutionized the industry, resulting in more advanced drilling rigs, smart sensors and real-time data collection, which ultimately made the technology safer and more environmentally sustainable.
“With new technology and the way we’re developing oil and gas, there is no reason at all that there should be any concern,” said Assemblymember Stan Ellis, R-Bakersfield, who previously worked in the oil and gas industry.
“Now, with today’s technology, there is no reason we should have any fear at all,” Ellis told The Center Square.
The U.S. Department of the Interior oversees the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which department officials said ensures that owners and operators of offshore oil drilling facilities can reduce the threats of an oil spill, as well as respond to actual oil spills.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, passed in 1972, as well as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, provide a blueprint for how the department is supposed to keep oil spills from occurring and how to keep them from getting worse if one occurs, according to department officials.
The economics of oil drilling
Those who support the federal government’s move to expand offshore oil drilling in California say it will help the entire country become more energy independent.
Part of the problem is the shrinking number of oil refineries in the state. California used to have 40 oil refineries in 1980, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The California Energy Commission listed 13 such refineries as of 2024.
Now, there are even fewer in light of recent closures of Phillips’ 66 Wilmington facility and a Valero refinery in Benicia, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.
“California is near a tipping point that is going to lead to the greatest financial crises in our state’s history,” said Andy Caldwell, the executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business Santa Barbara County.
“We’re in the midst of losing over 20% of our remaining refining capacity, and the reason they’re shutting down is they don’t have enough throughput,” Caldwell told The Center Square, referring to the amount of oil. “It’s kind of like you own an ice cream store, but if you don’t have enough customers, you can’t stay open.”
Refiners don’t have enough oil to process because of the number of refineries in California shutting down, limiting the state’s supply, Caldwell said.
Ultimately, this could serve to impact the price of gas at the pump, he explained.
“If oil goes up two, three or four dollars a gallon, which is what it is expected to do, that directly comes out of people’s pockets,” Caldwell said. “The price of fuel determines the price of everything else. The price of everything will go up accordingly.”
The average price of gas Wednesday in California was $4.199 a gallon, well above the national average of $2.833 a gallon, according to AAA. The only state with a higher gas price was Hawaii, at $4.413 a gallon. Typically California is the state with the highest average.
The U.S. Department of the Interior told The Center Square via email that it is difficult to determine how much money California stands to make from the expansion of oil drilling leases. Officials said factors include the current restrictions on leases and the fact there are no finalized plans.
However, states bordering drilling sites on the Outer Continental Shelf get 50% of revenues generated by offshore drilling. That is for drilling located three to six nautical miles offshore, Department of the Interior officials told The Center Square. The other 50% goes to the federal government.
Those revenues pay for congressionally-funded programs all over the country, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which pays for local and state park projects, public land access and land and water conservation. Oil and gas drilling revenues generated from drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf also pay for the National Historic Preservation Fund, which gives money to state, local and tribal agencies to pay for preservation of historical and cultural resources, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
UCSB: Not worth the risk
Despite increased revenues that pay for state and local programs, the environmental and economic impacts to the community ultimately aren’t worth the risk, according to a researcher from University of California, Santa Barbara.
“The economic risks are pretty clear,” said Paasha Mahdavi, a professor of energy and environmental politics at UCSB.
“So much of Santa Barbara’s economy relies on coastal activities,” Mahdavi told The Center Square. “It’s coastal fishermen. It’s tourism and hospitality, as well as other related services that depend on a clean and accessible waterfront. That right there is the heart of the county’s economics, not oil and gas.”
As the federal push to expand oil drilling off the coast of California, Mahdavi anticipates that whether the Trump administration is successful will depend on the courts.
“My sense is a lot of the overreach we’re seeing is not going to be held up,” Mahdavi said. “I expect to see some wins from the state side, but it’s going to take time. We’re going to hopefully see some rescinding of what the federal government’s trying to do because of that anticipated loss in court.”
UCSB and the neighboring community of Isla Vista are next to beaches where students and others surf. The university and community are two miles from Holly, an offshore platform.
Platform Holly has been owned by the state of California since the bankruptcy of its operator, Venoco. The California State Lands Commission this month said its staff is preparing a notice of preparation for an Environmental Impact Report to decommission the platform.
“Platform Holly has been powered off and in caretaker status since November 2024,” the commission said on its website.
