Rep. Mike Levin on Friday said he opposes the federal government’s intent to offer gas and oil leases off the coast of California.
Levin issued his statement the day after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it would prepare an environmental impact statement for proposed oil and gas lease sales “in the Northern, Central and Southern California Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf.”
“We won’t tolerate the Trump Administration’s intent to auction off California’s coast for offshore drilling to the highest bidder,” Levin said. “Our coastline is not for sale.”
The initial step under the National Environmental Policy Act “initiates the process to analyze a representative California lease sale and inform decisions under the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program,” BOEM officials stated.
On Nov. 20, the Trump administration announced that it will reopen ocean waters off the Pacific Coast to oil drilling leases, generating rapid opposition from California officials and environmentalists. The announcement by the U.S. Department of the Interior called it an effort to address the nation’s “boost United States energy independence and sustain domestic oil and gas production.”
The directive calls for the potential lease of 34 offshore drilling sites between 2026 and 2031 – 21 off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of Mexico and six along the Pacific Coast.
Levin, a Democrat whose district includes parts of North County and southern Orange County, said the administration wants people “to believe that offshore drilling would increase supply and lower prices, (but) the facts tell a different story.
He called the potential consequences of offshore drilling “catastrophic for our communities, economy and environment,” while noting the 2021 oil spill off Huntington Beach that leaked thousands of gallons into the ocean.
“Our region has already endured the negative impacts of what even one offshore failure can do,” Levin said.
The congressman said that Republicans along with Democrats “have rejected previous offshore drilling plans and will continue to do so.”
In April 2025, Levin re-introduced the “Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act” to ban offshore drilling along the Southern California coast. He and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, have sponsored the “West Coast Ocean Protection Act” to ban offshore drilling throughout California and the Pacific Northwest.
The Trump administration’s push for more offshore drilling has received local opposition as well. In December, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution opposing oil drilling off the coast of Southern California.
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