Coast defenders on alert for revised oil drilling plan by Trump administration

Offshore oil drilling opponents on the East and West coasts are on “high alert” anticipating release of the Trump administration’s revised drilling plan, layered with uncertainty over whether it will include California.

The bicoastal alarm stems from an Interior Department official’s comment two weeks ago that the new five-year oil and gas leasing program would be released “in the coming weeks” but offered few details.

Further clouding the issue is the departure of the department’s scandal-plagued former secretary, Ryan Zinke, who introduced the original drilling plan in January of last year, coupled with his presumed successor, acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former energy industry lobbyist nominated by President Donald Trump to head the agency that manages the nation’s natural resources.

Richard Charter of Bodega Bay, a veteran anti-drilling activist, thinks the plan will remain under wraps until after Bernhardt’s Senate confirmation hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Seventeen senators, including five running for president, sent a letter to Bernhardt on Wednesday asking him to disclose his position on oil leasing, including which states will or will not be included in the plan, prior to his hearing.

“The American people deserve to know your plan … before the Senate votes on your confirmation,” the letter said.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein signed the letter, along with presidential candidates Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

“We have received the letter and will respond in a timely manner,” Faith Vander Voort, the Interior Department’s top spokeswoman, said in an email.

Public officials, business groups and environmentalists on both coasts are on “high alert” awaiting release of the program, Charter said.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he doubts California will be included.

Zinke’s plan would have sold oil and gas development rights to the highest bidder in more than 90 percent of coastal waters, including six leases in California. It was an outgrowth of Trump’s “America First” energy strategy.

California’s Democratic leaders and lawmakers immediately condemned the plan, and former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill last year intended to block energy development in federal waters more than three miles offshore.

Charter said the revised plan, expected to include the Atlantic coast, could cost Bernhardt support from East Coast senators in the confirmation process. Drilling from Maryland down to Cape Canaveral, Florida was included in last year’s plan.

On the West Coast, there’s a solid wall of political and economic opposition to oil drilling, he said, but Charter also noted that the last two years of Trump’s term may be the oil industry’s best chance to tap offshore oil reserves.

“President Trump may try, but he won’t win,” state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg said, regarding the new plan. California’s commercial fishing industry is worth $7 billion a year and ocean-related tourism generates another $10 billion, he said.

Marine sanctuaries protect the coast from San Luis Obispo County to Point Arena, but there are four potential drilling targets farther north in Mendocino County and a spill in that area would likely foul the Sonoma Coast.

The oil industry also sees prospects in northern San Diego County, Orange County and Santa Monica Bay, said Charter, a senior fellow with The Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit environmental group.

“I would not bet that California is safe,” he said.

Huffman, whose district covers the North Coast, said he would be “very surprised” to see California remain a designated destination for new oil wells.

Interior Department officials have consistently indicated they recognize “how deeply unpopular drilling is” in California, he said.

But a top agency official, Walter Cruickshank, testified at a recent House natural resources subcommittee hearing that public sentiment is a consideration in the leasing process “but by law it is not and cannot be the only thing we consider.”

Huffman, a subcommittee member, expects the revised plan will represent a “reset” from the original, and also will not be the final version.

“It’s not a transparent process and we never know what to expect with this group,” he said. “I am anxiously awaiting whatever they produce and I don’t expect it to be good.”

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.