Watching Government: Gov. Brown signals opposition
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) left little doubt about where he stood on Sept. 8 when he signed two bills blocking new federal leasing off the state’s coast and announced its opposition to the federal government’s plan to expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands in California.
“Today, California’s message to the Trump administration is simple: Not here, not now,” he said in Sacramento as grassroots activists, governors, and business and international leaders converged on San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit.
“We will not let the federal government pillage public lands and destroy our treasured coast,” Brown stated.
S.B. 834, which Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) introduced, and A.B. 1175, which Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) sponsored, aim to block new federal offshore leases by prohibiting construction of new pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure in state waters.
“From the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill to the 2015 Refugio spill, I represent a community that knows all too well the devastation oil spills can bring to our economy and environment,” Jackson said. “I’m very pleased to see this legislation signed into law, because we’ve always known that if we don’t drill, it can’t spill.”
The bills also require new public notices and processes for lease renewals, extension amendments, or modifications to authorize new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure associated with new federal leases. There has been no federal expansion of oil and gas drilling along California’s coastline for more than 30 years, Brown noted.
He also signed a third bill, A.B. 2864, to improve damage and restoration assessments and mitigation measures after an offshore spill.
A day earlier, he submitted the state’s formal opposition to the US Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to open new public land for oil and gas leasing.
“It has been more than 20 years since the [BLM] last expanded the availability of federal public lands and mineral estates for oil and gas leases in the Central Valley and Central Coast of California,” Brown said in his letter to US Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke.
Climate threats understood
“Since then, the world’s understanding of the threats of climate change has greatly advanced and, in many cases, these threats have become reality,” he said.
BLM’s proposal “demonstrates an ignorance of these critical developments and is contrary to the course California has set to combat climate change,” Brown said.
One activist was not impressed. “The governor says ‘not here, not now,’ but he’s permitted more than 20,000 new oil and gas wells up and down California during his tenure,” 350.org Executive Director May Boeve said. “That’s more like drilling ‘everywhere, all the time.’”

Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.