The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a step toward leasing areas for offshore oil and gas drilling in California this week, by launching an associated environmental process.BOEM announced Thursday the department would prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement for lease sales in northern, central and southern California.A soon-to-be-released statement will primarily concern sales planned for 2027 in central and southern California, according to BOEM.A Northern California lease sale is proposed for 2029, according to a BOEM document.This is a California-specific part of a broader effort by the Trump Administration to open lease areas in federal waters across the country for sale to oil and gas companies, with an aim to restore domestic energy production.The notice for leases in southern and central California will be published Friday in the Federal Register, which opens a 30-day public scoping period, according to BOEM.During this period, “BOEM invites input from tribal, state, and local governments, stakeholders, and the public. Comments will help identify key issues, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation measures for consideration in the programmatic environmental impact statement,” the BOEM press release said.Matt Simmons, attorney for the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center, which is opposed to offshore drilling, argued any environmental considerations by the federal government on drilling will be “sorely lacking.”“The Trump EPA has very partisanly and very openly talked about how they want to deregulate,” he said.Despite EPIC’s skepticism the feds will undertake a robust environmental review, the organization is urging the public to comment on the environmental effects of offshore drilling in California.“This is the part of the process where you tell the EPA what they need to consider in their draft, before they write the draft,” explained Simmons.Public comment information can be found at: www.boem.gov/CA-OGPEISRead More
