California Gov. Gavin Newsom said a proposal for offshore drilling in the state would be “dead on arrival” as reports have emerged about the Trump administration selling new oil and gas leases in the region.
According to The Washington Post, President Donald Trump’s Interior Department is “planning to open the California coast to oil drilling lease sales for the first time in decades.” Under these plans, the Interior Department would conduct six lease sales between 2027 and 2030, a move that Newsom pledged to challenge in court.
“As it relates to offshore oil drilling, it’s overwhelmingly opposed by members of all political parties in the state of California,” Newsom told reporters while attending the COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil. “It’s dead on arrival.”
An Interior Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There haven’t been new oil and gas leases granted off the state’s coast since 1984, though past leases are still used for some oil production to this day, The Hill reports.
