On February 26, 2026, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it will prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for proposed offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Northern, Central, and Southern California planning areas of the Outer Continental Shelf. Comments are due March 30, and this will be the ONLY opportunity to submit your comments!Image: Map of the area impacted two days after the 1997 Kure Oil Spill in Humboldt Bay, from the 2008 Damage Assessment Report by the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. This review is the first step toward offering new federal offshore oil and gas leases beginning as early as 2027 under the federal government’s 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The public has until March 30 to comment on the issues that should be analyzed in the environmental review, including environmental and socioeconomic impacts, mitigation measures, alternatives to lease sales, and whether the leasing program should proceed at all. Due to recent weakening of NEPA regulations, this will be the only opportunity to comment on the environmental analysis for BOEM’s California oil and gas lease sales.Normally, NEPA would require a Draft Programmatic EIS with another opportunity for public input, but according to the new NEPA regulations they are no longer required to. The public notice says, “In accordance with the Department's NEPA implementing regulations and handbook, BOEM does not plan to issue a draft PEIS for public comment and will not hold any public meetings.” In 1997, the Kure Humboldt Bay Oil Spill—caused by a vessel loading wood chips from the dock in Samoa that punctured its own fuel tank—released 4,500 gallons of fuel oil into the bay. The Damage Assessment Report documented how far the oil spread and how many birds died, including 130 Endangered Marbled Murrelets and more than 3,300 other birds, including 2,000 shorebirds. The spill also affected 6,200 acres of wetlands, beaches, mudflats, and riprapped shoreline.BOEM is also required by NEPA to evaluate socioeconomic impacts, and past oil spills have caused far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on coastal economies. For example, over a 10-year period, the Deepwater Horizon spill led to the loss of over 25,000 jobs, $2.3 billion in industry output, $1.2 billion in gross regional product, $700 million in labor income, and $160 million each in state/local and federal tax revenues. Such impacts would be devastating to California’s coastal ecosystems and, as a result, our economy. The much smaller Kure Oil Spill in Humboldt Bay resulted in an estimated 767 lost user days of surfing, camping, and sea kayaking, as well as undocumented but undoubtedly significant impacts to the commercial fishing and oyster industries. We hope you will join us by writing comments on these short-sighted plans that would devastate California’s coastal environment and economy as well as the world’s climate while doing little if anything to address energy costs and our dependence on foreign oil. Submit comments by March 30, 2026 through the federal docket at this link: https://www.regulations.gov/document/BOEM-2025-0681-0001Below is a template to craft your own personalized comment letter. Please do not simply copy and paste—use your own words, personal experiences, and place-based reasons for your opposition.DRAFT COMMENT LETTER: I am writing to submit comments regarding the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s notice of intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for proposed oil and gas lease sales in the Northern, Central, and Southern California Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf. I strongly oppose any new offshore oil and gas leasing in federal waters off the coast of California due to the historic and foreseeable future impacts of offshore oil development on tourism, the fishing industry, and the environment . [Add your personal experiences with oil spills, reliance on the coastal environment and/or economy, etc. here]The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement should fully evaluate a No Action Alternative that eliminates new offshore oil and gas lease sales in California planning areas. Given the significant economic and environmental risks I request that BOEM select this alternative.In addition, the environmental review should comprehensively evaluate the following topics of particular concern to communities in the Northern California Planning Area and Humboldt County:
- Impacts to adjacent protected areas providing integral habitat for migratory birds, such as the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the Reading Rock State Marine Reserve & Conservation Area, and the Samoa State Marine Conservation Area;
- Risks to marine mammals, fisheries, and seabirds;
- Impacts to Humboldt’s coastal tourism and recreation, aquaculture, and fishing economies;
- Environmental justice impacts on the coastal communities of Fairhaven, Samoa, Manila, King Salmon, Table Bluff, and Fields Landing and local Tribes;
- The long term incremental impacts of additional offshore fossil fuel development on global climate catastrophes, and the availability of cleaner energy alternatives.
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