Environmentalists, lawyers, academics praise signing of Gregg Hart’s offshore oil bill into law

A new state law weakening offshore oil drilling written by Assemblymember Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, will go into effect next year — dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s energy efforts on the Central Coast.  

The California Coastal Protection Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, will prohibit federal oil leases issued after Jan. 1, 2026. from using existing state-controlled oil and gas infrastructures. 

At a Friday morning press conference hosted at the headquarters of the Environmental Defense Center—the Santa Barbara-based legal group that sponsored the bill—attendees celebrated the bill’s passage. 

“We know what happens first hand what happens when oil and water mix in a really dangerous way,” Hart said. “Having had that experience, I think we know and have a tremendous responsibility to be leaders in the state of California in protecting the coast.”  

Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” energy philosophy was also at the forefront of attendees’ minds. 

Though the federal government can drill in federal waters, it relies on state infrastructure to transport its oil to shore. This law effectively closes a loophole that allowed California to support federal offshore oil production, despite the practice being banned in the state.

Hart clarified that this law will not impact Sable Offshore Oil’s operations at the Santa Ynez Unit because it is intended to prevent future federal offshore oil leases. 

The Trump administration last year announced an aggressive five-year energy plan that proposes six new federal offshore oil leases off the California coast from 2027-2030. The president has made fossil fuels the cornerstone of his energy agenda, claiming that the US’ war with Iran has sparked a national energy crisis and therefore needs to pump more oil at home.

But on Friday, a coalition of activists, local elected officials, academics and lawyers celebrated a victory against Trump.

Paasha Mahdavi, a political science professor at UC Santa Barbara, called the law a “durable defense” against offshore oil drilling.

The Center for Biological Diversity’s Brady Bradshaw called it a “really strong legal safeguard.”

The victory especially hit home for a region that’s borne the brunt of environmental disasters, including the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.

“For more than a hundred years, this industry has poisoned our ocean and our atmosphere, and it has already caused way too many disasters along our coast,” said Linda Krop, chief counsel for the Environmental Defense Center.

Krop added that there was a lot of pressure in Sacramento to substantially weaken the bill but in the end, “nothing got cut.”

“This is one of the strongest anti-offshore oil bills in the state’s history,” Krop said. “It will be a major obstacle to any new fossil fuel development in federal waters offshore California.” 

Santa Barbara County legislators also have a record of pushing back against offshore oil drilling, with the success of Hart’s bill building on two state laws written by former state representatives. 

In 1994, Governor Pete Wilson signed Assemblymember Jack O’Connell’s (D-Santa Barbara) bill banning offshore oil drilling in state waters into law.

In 2018, Governor Jerry Brown passed a law written by Senator Hannah Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) that prohibits new leases for oil and gas infrastructure to support new federal offshore oil leases.

“This completes our trilogy,” said Krop. “It helps armor our state against the threat of more federal offshore oil and gas development and all the risks and impacts that brings.”

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