NOAA Review Inspires Residents to Defend Coast
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
Concerned Californians packed an Aug. 10 meeting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fight for the state’s right to protect the coast from offshore drilling and other industrialization efforts.
Canyon resident Judi Jensen attended the first 1-1/2 hours of the Monday meeting at the Hilton Santa Monica Hotel, and said that hundreds of people packed the event to share their views on the importance of protecting California’s coast.
NOAA is currently gathering public input as part of a performance review of the California Coastal Management Program, which may be an initial step toward ending California’s authority to prevent offshore drilling and other projects that threaten the coast.
“Every speaker had a lot to say about the issue and one recurring theme was that NOAA had consistently given very high grades to what California coastal agencies have done in the past … and they don't understand why the feds are questioning California Coastal Agencies now,” said Jensen, who noted that public speakers came from the California Coastal Commission and from as far away as Marin County to share their views in three-minute segments. “After every speaker, who were all for California coastal agencies continuing as before, the audience erupted loudly with clapping and screaming…. At the front, there was a huge screen which printed out exactly what the speaker was saying…. It was a very emotional meeting, lots of real feelings on the subject of our coast.”
Until Aug. 22 at 11:59 p.m., residents can also share their views with NOAA by emailing czma.california-evaluation@noaa.gov with "Comments on Performance Evaluation of the California Coastal Management Program" in the subject line.
According to an Aug. 11 L.A. Times article, experts see NOAA’s review as an effort by the federal government “to open California’s coast to more offshore oil drilling, more rocket launches and possibly even floating nuclear reactors.”
At the Aug. 10 meeting, Jensen said that “speakers were very concerned about offshore drilling and also extreme industrialization of our coastal areas. They spoke many times of keeping our coast for beach goers and fishers, as it is now.”
Howard Lutnick, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has written that the review is to ensure the state’s compliance with the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).
“California has repeatedly and unfoundedly obstructed spaceport development in bad faith,” Lutnick wrote in a letter to Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council. He said that he was “directing NOAA to conduct a full, formal review of California’s compliance with CZMA, including an assessment of, among other considerations, how, if at all, California has interfered with not just spaceport development, but also other economic development and federal view considerations concerning offshore oil production, maintenance of pipelines, and desalination.”
In his post, Lutnick disparaged a 2024 performance review of the California Coastal Management Program under the Biden administration that found the state to be in compliance with CZMA. This review was not finalized before Biden left office. Typically, such performance reviews take place every 5-10 years.
According to Jennifer Savage of the Surfrider Foundation, Lutnick’s criticism of California’s management of its coast is inaccurate.
“Since 1980, California has reviewed at least 135 aerospace and space launch-related projects under its coastal program and objected to only two, both over unresolved procedural issues and documented harm to endangered wildlife from sonic booms,” Savage wrote in an article for the foundation. “The state has reviewed 18 undersea fiber optic cable projects over the past 30 years and concurred with every one, while securing protections for fishing grounds, marine habitat, and whale and sea turtle safety along the way. California has conducted offshore oil and gas reviews consistently for 49 years, approving well-sited projects while requiring real safeguards against spill risk and habitat damage.”
(Transcripts of the NOAA meetings, including two virtual meetings on Aug. 11 and 12, can be obtained by emailing czma.california-evaluation@noaa.gov. The Surfrider Foundation has gathered information at this link that may be helpful in crafting a letter to NOAA.)
