Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26) released the following statement after the Trump administration announced plans to allow new oil and gas drilling off the California Coast for the first time in decades.
“The Trump administration has made its priorities unmistakably clear: rolling back protections, dismantling safeguards, and putting the interests of wealthy donors and powerful corporations before the health, safety, and future of the American people. That includes dragging our nation back to a time when rivers caught fire, smog choked our cities, and California’s iconic coastline was wide open to offshore oil and gas drilling, and we know all too well what that means.
“Oil spills have caused some of the worst environmental catastrophes in our nation’s history. While the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill occurred just north of California’s 26th Congressional District, its devastation is part of our region’s collective memory. That disaster was so profound that it transformed how our government oversees environmental protection for the offshore energy industry. It helped spark the modern environmental movement and led to longstanding restrictions on offshore drilling along California’s coast.
“The threat posed by offshore drilling is not just environmental. Offshore oil and gas leasing poses serious health and safety risks to our communities. It endangers local economies that rely on clean water and healthy ecosystems, including tourism, fishing, outdoor recreation, and the jobs that come with them. It also threatens the backbone of Ventura County’s $2 billion agricultural economy. Our farmers and farmworkers depend on clean water, healthy soil, and stable ecosystems to grow the crops that feed our country.
“An offshore spill could contaminate irrigation sources, damage coastal farmland, and jeopardize thousands of jobs across California’s Central Coast, and these harms are not borne equally. Low-income communities, communities of color, and the workers who power our agricultural and coastal economies, like Oxnard, the largest city in my district and one of the larger coastal cities in California, suffer first and worst from pollution, toxic exposure, and environmental degradation.
“Environmental justice demands that we prevent new harms — not repeat the failures of the past. At a time when the U.S. is already the world’s leading producer of oil and gas, when major oil companies are raking in record profits, and when most federal acres leased to industry sit unused, there is no justification for putting California’s coast back on the chopping block — except to serve corporate interests.
“Let me be absolutely clear: my Democratic colleagues and I stand united. We are committed to confronting this administration’s assault on our environment and standing up to the corporate interests trying to write our nation’s energy policy.
“We will fight back, not quietly, not halfway, but with the full force of our values and our conviction, because our coast, our communities, and our climate are worth every ounce of that fight.”
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Issues: 119th Congress, Energy and Environment, Natural Resources