SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), together with members of the California Legislative Central Coast Caucus (CLCCC) and additional legislators from both the Assembly and Senate, released the following letter urging U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to remove California from the Trump Administration's proposal to expand offshore oil drilling:
November 24, 2025
The Honorable Doug Burgum
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
SUBJECT: Opposition to New Federal Offshore Oil Drilling Proposal
Dear Secretary Burgum,
We, the members of the California Legislative Central Coast Caucus (CLCCC), joined by legislative colleagues from across the state, strongly urge you to remove California from the Trump Administration's proposal to expand offshore drilling. Advancing this plan would inflict significant and lasting harm on our coastal economies, our environment, and the well-being of millions of Californians.
The CLCCC includes California state legislative representatives from communities across the Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. Collectively, we represent close to 400 miles of coastline, more than two million Californians, and more than $80 billion in economic activity through tourism, agriculture, clean technology, and, most importantly, our natural beauty.
The administration's proposal would permit new offshore drilling in California's coastal waters for the first time in more than forty years. Not only is this unwarranted, it is harmful. Most of the new leases would be off the coast of Santa Barbara County - the same region devastated by the largest oil spill in California history in 1969 and again by the Refugio Spill in 2015. These disasters killed hundreds of marine animals, shut down fisheries and coastal tourism, and cost millions in lost revenue. Moving forward with drilling off California's coast would ignore the lessons of the past and once again put our communities and economy at serious risk.
California's coastal and ocean sectors are essential to our state's prosperity. From north to south, our coastal and ocean industries generate over $51 billion in gross state product and employ more than half a million people. Tourism and recreation account for 47% of this economic output, almost ten times the economic benefit of offshore oil drilling. Expanding drilling would threaten the industries that sustain our coastal communities while providing minimal economic benefit in return. As a donor state that contributes far more to the federal government than it receives, any threat to California's economy has national implications, affecting federal revenues and programs across the country.
It is our responsibility to protect our natural world for generations to come and to maintain the progress we have made over the last four decades. The consequences of expanding offshore oil drilling will be far-reaching, jeopardizing our coastal communities, state economy, and national interests. Therefore, we urge you to remove California from the federal administration's offshore drilling expansion proposal.
Sincerely,
DAWN ADDIS
Co-Chair, 30th Assembly District
CONTACT: Alexis Garcia-Arrazola, (831) 649-2832