_{Thumbnail photo: Oil platforms off the coast of Seal Beach, Calif. | Photo by Mike Peel via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License}

Del Norte County Supervisors on Tuesday decided to put their opposition to offshore oil drilling in writing. But whether they’ll send their letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials assessing the California Coastal Management Program remains to be seen.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey pushed for the opposition letter, reminding her colleagues that lease sales may be under consideration in three years. 

Though he went along with his colleagues in approving the letter, District 3 representative Chris Howard said he still thinks Del Norte County shouldn’t get involved in a political butting of heads between Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration.

“I don’t think Del Norte weighing in at this time on issues when the current administration will be out of office will make a hill of beans in the long term,” he said.

Howard and his colleagues had first considered whether or not to take a position on offshore oil drilling on Jan. 27. 

At that meeting, Howard warned that Del Norte County could be getting in the middle of a much larger fight. With the community relying on federal support for significant projects, including Last Chance Grade, he said, maintaining a neutral position might be a better strategy.

On June 26, NOAA announced that as part of its evaluation of the California Coastal Management Program, it was seeking stakeholder input regarding offshore oil production, pipeline maintenance and desalination project, undersea cables and spaceport infrastructure, according to a staff report from Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper.

According to Greg Burns, a representative of Thorn Run Partners, Del Norte County’s federal lobbyist, the public meetings NOAA intends to hold next month might be more focused on the Trump administration’s frustration with the California Coastal Commission.

“The Trump administration is upset with the California Coastal Commission, with some of the actions they’ve taken with respect to SpaceX down in the Vandenberg Air Force Base and the limiting of launches,” Burns told supervisors Tuesday. “They are (also) frustrated that the state has tried to impede the restarting of drilling activity that’s existing off the coast of Southern California, but I think this is maybe a little less focused on offshore drilling off of your coast.”

In an article published Monday, Central Coast Public Radio’s Gabriela Fernandez reported that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ordered NOAA’s review of the California Coastal Management Program. Lutnick said California coastal regulators had not adequately considered federal priorities and called the state’s policies obstructionist.

NOAA has scheduled an in-person public meeting for Aug. 10 in Santa Monica and will hold two virtual public meetings on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12. Burns said the public comment period will be open for about 10 days after the meetings.

“We will participate in those on your behalf and we certainly want to monitor whether it is they’re just going after the Coastal Commission or whether they’re trying to advance more aggressively with some sort of drilling schedule,” he said.

According to the county’s staff report, NOAA’s final evaluation report must be completed within 120 days after the Aug. 12 meeting and must include written responses to written public comments received during the process.

Starkey pointed out that in February the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it would investigate the feasibility of implementing leases for offshore oil drilling. That lease proposal could include a Northern California lease sale in 2029, she said.

“I think our silence would speak volumes,” she said. “And I think this is an opportunity for us to report how offshore drilling would impact Del Norte County and our coastline. I think it’s going to impact our fisheries, it’s going to impact our tourism, it’s going to impact our environmental issues, and I appreciate Thorn Run monitoring it, but I do think that I would like to see the Board make a statement.”

Starkey said it’s not her job to get into a national political debate, but having a statement on where Del Norte County stands on offshore oil drilling might be important to its residents.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Joey Borges said he agreed with Starkey and asked Burns to have a draft available for review by the first meeting in August.

District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson compared the proposed official stance against offshore oil drilling to the county’s opposition to offshore wind energy development. He also pointed out that the State of California has already stated its opposition to further offshore oil drilling leases.

Rather, NOAA’s current evaluation of the California Coastal Management Program might be to Del Norte County’s benefit, Wilson said.

“Anything that would help rein in the California Coastal Commission is going to be a long-term benefit,” he said. “They’ve far exceeded their grasp and width of influence in our community and exponentially increased the cost of much of our development along the coastline.”

During a legislative update later in Tuesday’s meeting, Burns reiterated Howard’s statement that the possibility of BOEM offering offshore oil leases for Northern California wouldn’t happen until the next presidential administration is in office.

“The next administration, whether Republican or Democrat, I don’t think will be exactly like this one,” he said, “and so they may have different perspectives on how to achieve our nation’s energy needs.”

With the rise of data centers, however, the United States “arguably needs all kinds of energy,” Burns said.