Wednesday November 12, 2025
The Washington Post —
Trump officials are planning to open the California coast to oil drilling lease sales for the first time in decades, according to a draft map reviewed by The Washington Post, drawing condemnation from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales between 2027 and 2030 along the California coast.
The plan also envisions expanding drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area where drilling has generally been avoided because it faces stiff opposition from many in Florida who fear an oil spill could spoil their beaches and devastate the area’s tourism industry. The administration is considering lease sales there in 2029 and 2030.
In Alaska, more than 20 lease sales are being floated through 2031 in virtually all offshore areas, including in the High Arctic, an area more than 200 miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.
The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsom said Tuesday that the proposal was “dead on arrival.”
“Over our dead body. Period. Full Stop,” the governor said, when asked about the plan. President Donald Trump, Newsom added, “wants to open up the coast of California to oil drilling, but he has no interest in opening up oil drilling rigs right off the coast of Florida, not right across the street from Mar-a-Lago.”
“It’s never going to happen,” Newsom added.
Offshore drilling is “expensive and risky” and would put coastal economies at risk, Newsom spokesman Anthony Martinez said in a statement.
Ten oil and energy groups, led by the American Petroleum Institute, jointly stated in a June letter that all areas “with the potential to generate jobs, new revenue, and additional production to advance America’s energy dominance should be considered for inclusion.”
The comment letter defended potential new drilling near California, noting the history of oil production in areas leased more than 50 years ago. “Undiscovered resources could be readily produced given the array of existing infrastructure in the area, particularly in southern California,” the letter said.
The industry voiced support for drilling in the eastern gulf, saying its proximity to heavily developed areas would allow companies to begin “new production relatively quickly.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) vowed in June to resist offshore oil drilling, joining attorneys general in nine other states in opposing drilling on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
“President Trump is once again taking action to line the pockets of his Big Oil friends. This time, he’s expanding oil and gas development by attempting to drill in our coastal communities,” Bonta said at the time in a comment letter. “We won’t stand idly by as the President continues to ignore science.”
The offshore oil plan, which would remain in place for five years once finalized, comes in addition to a raft of offshore oil lease auctions approved in President Donald Trump’s sweeping 2025 budget legislation. That includes 30 lease auctions in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 15 years and six off the Alaska coast in the next decade.