Forty years ago, California coastal communities fought against offshore oil drilling by forming the “Blue Wall,” which prevented oil companies from operating near the waterfront.
As a result, California oceans have been protected from drilling prospects — until now.
This October, the Houston Chronicle published leaked documents from the Trump administration, outlining plans to open drilling platforms along the Central Coast as soon as 2027. The layout for these platforms includes Santa Cruz, leaving many locals concerned about oceanic preservation.
“[Oil drilling] would ruin everything,” said Santa Cruz resident and longtime environmental advocate Mary Flo. “It would completely decimate the beauty of the coast.”
Offshore oil drilling is the process of accessing oil and gas underneath the ocean floor using oil rigs. Every step of this operation can cause environmental damage, but drilling itself creates a higher risk of oil spills.
Before the press conference, organizers displayed banners from the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation organization.
According to Mark Carr, a professor of physical and biological sciences at UC Santa Cruz, this could coat the entirety of the coastline in oil. Pollution from spills not only threatens marine wildlife, but also puts the local economy at risk.
“Many undergraduates at UCSC have employment associated with tourism here in Santa Cruz,” Carr said. “If tourism tanks because people are not coming to a coastline that’s been impacted by an offshore oil spill, it will impact the economy and financial state of the students that are dependent on tourism.”
Oil contamination would also be detrimental to fisheries which rely on a healthy ocean for producing high quality seafood.
“[Fish] are our closest available protein source,” said Melissa Mahoney, the executive director of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust. “In terms of a food sovereignty and a food security perspective, we need to have access to a clean and healthy bay.”
The impacts of oil drilling would be felt across the seaboard, and coastal communities are keenly aware of potential repercussions.
Although the Trump administration has yet to release the documents, various environmental groups and California officials have already begun opposing them. The plan is to utilize the “Blue Wall” once more.
When establishing the “Blue Wall,” the California legislature passed laws to ensure that coastal communities maintained jurisdiction over local oil drilling. Because the federal government can only lease out water three nautical miles away from the coast in California, the “Blue Wall” prevented onshore oil transportation and facility construction.
Now, as Trump attempts to bypass this ordinance, Third District Supervisor Justin Cummings is inviting coastal community elected representatives to organize and continue the fight.
Third District Supervisor Justin Cummings, the former chair of California’s Coastal Commission, addresses the crowd gathered for a press conference at the Santa Cruz Wharf.
“We want to strengthen those [Blue Wall] policies to make it as difficult as possible for any type of drilling activities to be able to come on land, and make it economically infeasible if they want to try to put deep sea oil platforms in our national marine sanctuary,” Cummings said.
Senator John Laird spoke on the importance of resisting pushback from the federal government and oil companies.
“This whole issue is about our future … this is about whether or not we live on a planet that is habitable and protects species and protects our local economy,” Laird said. “So my message is get involved. Just because the federal government wants to eliminate public participation doesn’t mean that the public shouldn’t participate.”
Laird’s call to action speaks to students and residents alike, encouraging all locals to organize against central coast drilling. Congressman Jimmy Panetta empathized with Laird’s sentiment, expressing the importance of community as a tool of opposition.
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder, willing to go toe-to-toe with any administration, with any corporation, with anybody who threatens our beauty and our bounty because we will always protect our coastline, our coastal economy, our coastal community,” Panetta said. “We will always stand together to protect this place that all of us proudly call home.”
