A coalition of California counties, sprouted in response to Reagan administration actions, has resurfaced for the first time in more than 30 years to block renewed federal plans to allow offshore oil drilling off the California coast.
At its Aug. 18 meeting, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors joined the fight by approving a $25,000 contribution to Santa Cruz County, which is leading the charge.
That sum sealed the county’s participation in the Local Government Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Coordination Program.
The coalition emerged in 1980 to oppose new offshore lease sales for expanded gas and oil drilling. When offshore drilling halted and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was designated, the program disbanded in 1994.
Santa Cruz County revived the group last year, with its 3rd District Supervisor Justin Cummings at the helm.
SLO County 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson told New Times that he’s followed program efforts for a while.
“[I] received a specific request from them to consider funding a little over a month ago,” he said via email. “I’ve been impressed with their organization and energy in carrying the anti-offshore oil message—I’ve also been increasingly concerned about the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on California’s coastal protections. For those two reasons, I thought the time was right for SLO County to make a clear statement of our values and help fund the effort.”
The local coordination program now exists to counter the U.S. Department of the Interior’s proposal to offer oil drilling leases in federal waters under its 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Program.
Depending on the plan’s approval, water off the California coast under federal jurisdiction will be open to leases over the next five years.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) draft proposed leasing program offers six offshore drilling lease sales to be held off the coast.
A BOEM map shows a federally designated area near Northern California that touches the Oregon border will be open in 2029, an area near the Central Coast will be open from 2027 to 2029, and an area near Southern California will be open from 2027 to 2030.
According to Richard Charter, who Santa Cruz County hired to operate the local coordination program, the Trump administration is ignoring national marine sanctuary protections that are supposed to prevent offshore drilling. Charter also ran the coalition from 1980 to 1994.
‘The whole orientation of the federal program is now aimed at opening new areas that they’ve never been able to open. … So, is this more dangerous than the early ’80s? Absolutely.’
—Richard Charter, coordinator of the Local Government Outer Continental Shelf Coordination Program
“Back in the early ’80s, we were having more oil spills primarily due to poor inspection and poor monitoring, combined with aging infrastructure,” he said. “The whole orientation of the federal program is now aimed at opening new areas that they’ve never been able to open. … So, is this more dangerous than the early ’80s? Absolutely.”
The coalition’s success in the 1980s and 1990s was primarily due to “California’s Blue Wall”—a collection of more than two dozen local ordinances passed by counties, and sometimes voters, that restricted or prohibited onshore support facilities for new offshore drilling.
SLO County’s version, Measure A, was approved by voters in 1986 and is part of the county’s local coastal program.
Charter said that the coalition’s latest strategy is to create a chilling effect on lease bidding by adding to the ordinances that still exist and advocating to strengthen the ban on using existing state infrastructure for new federal leases. He also pointed to the California Coastal Sanctuary Act that permanently prohibits new oil and gas leases in state waters extending up to 3 nautical miles from the shoreline.
SLO County joins Monterey, Marin, San Mateo, and Sonoma counties, and the city of Monterey, which contributed between $1,000 and $30,000 to the renewed coalition’s efforts. Santa Cruz County and the city of Santa Cruz paid $29,000, each—bringing the total to $192,000.
The SLO County Board of Supervisors approved the local contribution in a 3-2 vote, with 1st District Supervisor John Peschong and 5th District Supervisor Heather Moreno dissenting.
The supervisors’ approval arrived on the heels of their December 2025 resolution that reaffirmed opposition to new and existing offshore oil drilling and seabed mining. Peschong was the sole dissenter for that resolution.
Peschong, Moreno, and two county residents said at the Aug. 18 meeting that they didn’t support paying taxpayer money to Santa Cruz County.
Their disapproval prompted 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding to request a report from Santa Cruz County that details how SLO County’s funding contribution was spent.
Charter told New Times that the money would be spent on “legislative and procedural engagement.”
“The idea is counties need to be informed about how they can best participate, kept up on the deadlines, because there are a lot of deadlines, and that enables them to be working in a coordinated fashion,” he said. “Nobody’s missed a deadline yet because I keep them up to date.” ∆
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2026.
