Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Ray Mueller, Supervisor, District 3
Jackie Speier, Supervisor, District 1
Subject: Opposition to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's 11th National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution expressing the County of San Mateo's strong and unequivocal opposition to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's proposed 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, and authorizing and directing the President of the Board of Supervisors to approve submission of a comment letter in opposition.
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BACKGROUND:
There have not been any new offshore drilling leases issued in California since 1984. Although California has 27 offshore platforms and artificial islands where oil is currently produced, all are located in southern California and all date from the 1950's. In fact, due to Congressional moratoria, Presidential actions, and consistent opposition from the States of Washington, Oregon, and California, the entire Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has not been included in any National OCS Program since the 1987-1992 Program.
In 1994, Republican Governor Pete Wilson, responding to public opposition to offshore oil drilling after a series of spills, signed a law banning new drilling in state waters, which extend three miles from the California coastline.
In January 2025, two weeks before leaving office, President Biden permanently banned new drilling across 625 million acres of America's oceans, including all federal waters off the California coast. In response, a coalition of Republican-led states and the oil industry sued and, in October 2025, a federal judge struck down the ban. The case is currently on appeal.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14154 and announced a policy of "Unleashing American Energy" that would move to "restructure the nation's energy future t...
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