Plan is released for new drilling in Pacific

The proposal would mean as many as 34 offshore lease sales in federal waters.

- BY HAYLEY SMITH

KAYLA BARTKOWSKI Los Angeles Times

A SURFER catches a wave in front of an offshore oil platform at Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced plans to open the Pacific Ocean to new oil and gas leases for the first time in more than four decades.

The draft plan released by the U.S. Department of the Interior confirms rumors that have been swirling for weeks.

The proposal would mean as many as 34 offshore lease sales across 1.27 billion acres of federal waters in the Outer Continental Shelf through 2031, including six areas along the Pacific Coast, 21 off the coast of Alaska and seven in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the plan with an order titled “Unleashing American Offshore Energy,” which directs the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to terminate former President Biden’s much more limited plan, which called for only three new oil and gas leases through 2029, the lowest number ever and only in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America’s offshore production,” Burgum said in a statement. “By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America's offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come." California has about two dozen oil platforms in state and federal waters off the coast, but most are considered at or near the end of their productive life.

The state has not had new oil leases in federal waters since 1984, largely because of public opposition following a disastrous oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969.