California Is Fighting Trump's Offshore Drilling Plan but Exxon, Koch Already Drill There.

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Public officials throughout the state of California have made headlines for loudly opposingย Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s decision to approve offshore drilling in California and throughout the Pacific Outer Continental Shelfย region.ย 

This move is part of theย Trumpย administration’sย broader plans to lease record amounts of offshore areas in the Gulf of Mexico andย open up the Atlantic Ocean for drilling.ย Many city governments, county governments, the California Assembly,ย California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and Governor Jerry Brown have all come out against Zinke’s plan. Lessย discussed, though, is the fact that companies are already drilling offshore in southern California, an area perhaps better known for its popular beaches and oceanside resortย cities.

Some of those offshore platforms are visible during a trip along Highway 1, the famed Pacific Coast Highway. More of thoseย lease holdings are owned by ExxonMobil than any other company, according to a review of U.S.ย Bureau of Ocean Energy Managementย leasing dataย for the Pacific region. However,ย Koch Industriesย is also already a player in drilling off the Californiaย coast.

In all, some 188,869 acres of offshore land are dedicated toย drilling in the Golden State. Production occursย on 38 different lease holdings.ย All of these leasings were put in place before the federal government enacted a moratorium on new drillingย in California in 1982. Theย ban arrivedย in the aftermath of a massive offshore oil spill nearย Santa Barbara in 1969. That spill, resulting from a well blowout underย Union Oil Company’s Platform A,ย spewed as much asย 4.2 millionย gallons of crude into the Pacificย Ocean.

After that oil spill, theย California State Lands Commission, which has also come out against the Trump proposal,ย imposed a state ban on new leasesย in 1994 throughย the California Coastal Sanctuary Act. Drilling agreements on the books before 1982, however, haveย been allowed to continue,ย and that’s where ExxonMobil, Koch, and other companies come intoย play.

Of the 38 leases, ExxonMobil is the lead designated operator on 16 of those. Koch, by comparison, is more of a minor player. The company owns a 10.4 percent stakeย in one offshore drilling operation run by Beta Offshore Company and a 3.7 percent stake in another operated by Freeport McMoran, both of which sit off the coast of Santa Barbaraย County.


Credits: U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

While neither Koch Industriesย nor the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperityย (AFP) branch in California have weighed in on the offshore drilling expansion under Trump, its New Hampshire chapter did celebrate the development in a January pressย release.ย 

โ€œOpponents of this proposal donโ€™t have any plan to deliver affordable and reliable energy,โ€ said AFP. โ€œAs the discussion on Secretary Zinkeโ€™s proposals goes forward, we should be mindful to let the needs of Granite Staters drive the debate, not hyperbole, speculation, orย fearmongering.โ€

ExxonMobil has not made any public statements to date on the prospects of more drilling on the Pacific Coast. The company has been angling, though,ย for years to do more drilling on theย other side of the Pacific Ocean in the South Chinaย Sea.

Given the drilling that is already taking place in the state, the California-based group Consumer Watchdog pointed out in a February 2017 report thatย offshore drilling has actually increased under the watch of Governor Brown. Brown is often described as the most environmentally friendly governor in the U.S.

โ€œ[O]il production continues from 1,366 offshore wells in existing leases, according to the California Department of Conservation,โ€ reads the Watchdog report. โ€œSince 2012, regulators issued about 238 permits for new wells in existing offshore leases, and 171 of those offshore wells are currentlyย active.โ€

Despite the drilling currently happening off its coast, California appears poised to do everything within its power to stop offshore drilling from expanding in the state, as the Trumpย administration proposal would have. That includesย denying zoning permits and other regulatory permits needed by cities and counties to participate in what is the complex business of high-volume offshoreย drilling.

Retired Navy commanders, too, have expressed concerns because offshore drilling in southern California could impact military preparations at itsย Camp Pendleton Base in Oceanside,ย located in San Diegoย County.

Main image: Offshore oil platform. Credit: National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Department ofย Energy

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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