Sponsors (24)
The bill protects Southern California coastal communities, ecosystems, and local planning by permanently banning new federal offshore leasing there, but it reduces regional energy job and lease revenue opportunities and risks shifting production and emissions to other areas.
Coastal residents (urban and rural communities) will face reduced risk of oil spills and related health and environmental harms because the bill permanently closes the Southern California offshore area to new federal leasing.
Coastal communities that rely on fisheries and tourism will see protection of marine habitats and ecosystems near Southern California, preserving local fish stocks and tourism value by preventing new drilling impacts.
Local governments and coastal planners gain regulatory certainty because the bill permanently closes the area to new federal OCS leasing, allowing more predictable local economic and land-use planning.
Energy and construction workers in the region may lose potential jobs and contracts that would have resulted from offshore leasing and development in the closed area.
Shutting the area to new federal leases forecloses potential federal and state lease revenues and associated tax income that would have come from development in the region.
Producers may shift drilling or production to other offshore areas or to onshore fields, which could increase emissions or environmental impacts elsewhere rather than reducing overall fossil fuel production.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permanently bars the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new federal offshore oil and gas leases or authorizations in the Southern California Planning Area.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Mike Levin · Last progress April 10, 2025
Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior from issuing any new federal offshore oil or natural gas leases or other authorizations for exploration, development, or production in the Southern California Planning Area as defined in the 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (September 2023). One provision also establishes the act’s official short title. The prohibition is written to apply “notwithstanding any other law,” creating a permanent bar on new federal OCS leasing or authorizations in that specific planning area; the text does not itself provide new funding, implementation details, or language revoking existing leases or authorizations.