Undoing Decades of Coastal Protection?

Undoing Decades of Coastal Protection?

“The coast is never saved. It is always being saved.” – Peter Douglas, past Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Threats to the California coast are nothing new. For over 40 years, California’s 1976 Coastal Act has held back a steady stream of development threats – successfully preserving sweeping coastlines, protecting sensitive habitats and agricultural lands, and ensuring public access to our sandy beaches for an entire generation of Californians.

Today, yet another threat to the coast has emerged – thanks to the newly-signed America First Offshore Energy Executive Order from the Trump Administration. This sweeping directive reads like a horror story for California’s coastline.

Among the horrors, it: 

  • Rolls back Obama-era bans and limitations on offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters nationwide.
  • Expands the areas that can be considered for oil and gas drilling by millions of acres, including the Pacific coastline and many other previously “off-limits” waters.
  • Has the potential to remove longstanding protections to our national marine monuments and sanctuaries, all highly sensitive ocean habitats that are home to multitudes of endangered and threatened marine species.
  • Fast-tracks oil company approvals for seismic testing, a technique used to find new drilling sites – which is also devastatingly harmful to dolphins, porpoises, and whales.
  • Goes backwards on safety standards, allowing new and existing drilling operations to be riskier and dirtier

LOCAL CONSIDERATIONS

Thanks to community and environmental activists, the San Mateo County coast has strong protections. In 1986, Committee for Green Foothills led a large campaign to pass Measure A in San Mateo County, which prohibits any onshore facilities for offshore oil drilling (such as tank farms, oil and gas pipelines, or processing plants) unless approved by voters. This law protects the San Mateo County coast, but sadly large sections of California’s coast remain vulnerable.

Committee for Green Foothills will actively oppose any effort to allow new oil and gas drilling along our coastline, and continue to defend the San Mateo County coast from any such developments.

First things first, we need to ensure that the very definition of coastal protection is broadened to include the vital ecosystems that extend far beyond where land meets sea.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson has introduced legislation that would prevent the State Lands Commission from approving any new offshore pipelines within their jurisdiction. This is an area that extends three miles out from the California coast. Thus, any oil from offshore drilling farther out would be difficult to transport – making offshore drilling financially infeasible.

To help bolster the passage of Sen. Jackson’s bill, you can contact her office via email or regular mail and state your support for SB188 and protecting our oceans.

We’ll continue to do everything we can to speak up for our coast and the protections we fought so hard to win decades ago, and keep you updated with ways you can join us in speaking up.

 

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