N.R.D.C.
A Hands Across the Sand protest in Laguna Beach, CA, in response to Trump’s proposal to expand offshore oil and gas drilling
Steve Bruckmann/Shutterstock
As Californians protest the Trump administration’s intent to expand drilling off the Pacific coast, some city and state officials consider new legislation to block it.
Dani Garcia had planned to man the NRDC table set up near the beach at a rally against offshore oil drilling on a cloudless day in Laguna Beach. But as people paraded around her waving handmade signs that read “Save our Oceans” and “There is no planet B,” with some protesters even dressed up as oil spill cleanup workers, she couldn’t stand still. She hugged local business owners, sang in solidarity with surfers, then joined hands with the hundreds of protesters—kids included—who stood together in the sand and stretched across the beach they were there to protect. “It felt incredible to be surrounded by people who were willing to show up and fight to protect our oceans,” says Garcia, an NRDC program assistant. “It gave me hope.”
The demonstration in Laguna Beach was only the latest instance of the city’s vociferous opposition to offshore drilling. Last November, the city council unanimously voted to pass a resolution opposing new fossil fuel drilling off the coast and fracking in existing offshore wells. Meanwhile, many other California communities also hosted beachside protests in the wake of the Trump administration’s January announcement that it would move to open the entire Pacific coast to new federal offshore oil and gas leasing. Thousands participated in the day of action on February 3 up and down the coastline, on the Santa Monica Pier, in San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Santa Cruz. Later that week, Californians marched from the state capitol in Sacramento to a so-called public hearing by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on its proposal.
Support for keeping oil rigs off the Pacific coast resonates far and wide in the Golden State, with 69 percent of Californians opposing the expansion of offshore drilling. “I’m really pleased it’s not a partisan issue for California,” says Sarah Sikich, vice president of Heal the Bay, who attended one of the February protests on the Santa Monica Pier. The potential for an oil spill poses a major threat to California’s vibrant economy, she notes. “I’ve always seen offshore drilling—not just with the recent Trump administration proposal—as something that crosses party lines, crosses divisions of all different ages,” she says. “It’s one of those galvanizing issues for a lot of different communities.”
California’s coastal economy funnels $2.1 trillion into the state’s GDP and employs 15.8 million people, according to a 2016 report by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “Californians have seen that investments in marine protection have not only preserved the coast, but marine conservation has provided jobs and consistent economic growth in coastal areas,” says Sandy Aylesworth, an NRDC oceans advocate. “Further, California’s renewable energy economy is booming. The state’s CO2 emissions have dropped, all while growing the clean energy sector.”
Of course, not all Californians agree. Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who represents the 48th District, stretching along the coast from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach, supports lifting the ban on expanding drilling offshore. He has also, in the past, called global warming “a total fraud.”