NOAA Opens Review to Strip California of 50-Year Coastal Powers as 9,000 Comments Target Oil Push
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 7
NOAA Opens Review to Strip California of 50-Year Coastal Powers as 9,000 Comments Target Oil Push
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 7
Summary
Monday’s Santa Monica hearing opens a NOAA review that could decertify California’s coastal management program, threatening the state’s authority under the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act to object to offshore drilling and other federal projects.
The Trump administration says California’s “environmental extremism” has obstructed development, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ordered a fresh evaluation after targeting state resistance to offshore oil, pipelines, desalination and spaceport expansion.
California had already received top marks in a 2024 draft review that found no problems, making the reopened process highly unusual; coastal-state advocates say no state has previously been stripped of these rights.
More than 9,000 written comments have already been filed, and state officials, environmental groups, Indigenous leaders, businesses and Gov. Gavin Newsom are mobilizing against what critics call a federal power grab with implications beyond California’s 1,200-mile coast.