On the recordApril 10, 2025
I rise today to introduce the West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2025. This crucial piece of legislation would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1978 to permanently prohibit offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. It has been over 50 years since a major oilspill occurred off the coast of Santa Barbara, which inspired the first Earth Day and the modern environmental movement that we see today. Despite this catastrophic incident, California has still a experienced subsequent oilspills, which is unacceptable since these environmental incidents are preventable. I hope my colleagues can join me in understanding that the tradeoff between oil production and environmental harm is simply not one we should be making any longer. The oil spills in California have had drastic impacts, including oil seeping into environmentally sensitive wetlands, endangering birds and other wildlife, and forcing the closure of beaches that are the economic engines of entire communities. We must end our reliance on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels and work towards a clean energy future, because even when oil isn't leaking from pipelines, it is fueling the crisis of global warming, poisoning local communities, and causing billions of dollars of harm each year. Fossil fuels are endangering Californian families and fueling raging wildfires and extreme drought--as well as toxic oilspills.…
