In the News
California Dems join chorus of lawmakers hoping to influence Trump offshore drilling plan
by Noah Baustin
California Democrats joined the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for major changes to the Trump administration’s proposal to boost offshore oil and gas production. What happened: A coalition of 28 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter Thursday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump opposing the administration’s proposal to hold six oil and gas lease sales in the federal waters off the California coast. “Any expansion of offshore drilling in the waters off the coast … Continue Reading
December 01, 2025
House Members Introduce Bills Covering Water Protection from Hydraulic Fracturing
by Mike Price
Five U.S. House of Representatives members introduced on November 18 what they are calling “the Frack Pack,” a set of five bills aimed at public health protections from hydraulic fracturing. The House members are Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Diana DeGette (Colorado), Jared Huffman (California), Kathy Castor (Florida), and Yvette Clarke (New York). The bills are titled the SHARED Act, FRAC Act, FRESHER Act, CLEANER Act, and CLOSE Act. ... For full article, click … Continue Reading
November 24, 2025
Could offshore drilling ruin America's coastlines? Some are worried.
by Dinah Voyles Pulver, Terry Collins
Nature lovers, scientists and politicians worry the beloved California coastline, from the Redwoods to Santa Monica, will be endangered by the Trump administration's latest call for expanded offshore drilling. While oil and gas industry leaders lauded the plan, environmentalists and a group of California legislators quickly blasted it, fearing the potential havoc an oil spill or other accident could wreak on tourism and natural resources along the coast. They say the millions of tourists and … Continue Reading
November 24, 2025
Marin joins coastal coalition against offshore drilling
by Adrian Rodriguez
The Marin County Board of Supervisors has taken a stand against the Trump administration’s threats of offshore oil drilling. The board voted unanimously on Nov. 18 to join a revived coalition of California coastal jurisdictions working to protect the shoreline. The approval of the resolution came days before the Trump administration released a five-year plan to open the entire state coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling and deep-sea mining. ... For full article, click … Continue Reading
November 23, 2025
West Marin Pharmacy to receive $500K federal earmark
by Richard Halstead
When President Donald Trump signed legislation this month to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, it meant $500,000 for the West Marin Pharmacy in Point Reyes Station. As part of the deal to end the shutdown, Republicans and Democrats agreed to fund several agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, for the full 2026 fiscal year. The agreement includes money for the drugstore to renovate. “The fiscal year 2026 agriculture bill is what the half a million dollars for … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida
by Matthew Daly, Matthew Brown
The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production. The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump administration proposes opening waters off California and Florida to oil drilling
by James Bikales
The Trump administration proposed a plan Thursday that would open federal waters off the California coast to new oil and gas leasing for the first time in four decades and reignite a long-simmering fight with Florida Republicans over drilling along that state’s Gulf Coast. The proposed five-year schedule for offshore oil and gas leasing represents the most aggressive in decades, with the Interior Department considering as many as 34 auctions in federal waters between 2026 and 2031. That … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
California leaders vehemently oppose expanded offshore oil
by Robert Schaulis
Politicians, environmental groups and business organizations throughout the state and country expressed outrage Thursday at a Trump administration plan to significantly increase offshore oil leasing, calling the plan an attempt to “destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry.” “Trump’s idiotic plan endangers our coastal economy and communities and hurts the well-being of Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Natural Resources Committee approves NEPA overhaul
by Kelsey Brugger
The House Natural Resources Committee passed broad permitting legislation Thursday, which may become part of a broader package lawmakers hope to pass this Congress. The committee voted 25-18 for an amended version of Chair Bruce Westerman's (R-Ark.) “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act," H.R. 4776. Only two Democrats, primary co-sponsor Jared Golden of Maine and Adam Gray of California, ended up voting "yes" despite Westerman efforts to get more on … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Westerman’s bipartisan NEPA permitting overhaul advances to House floor
by Josh Siegel
The House Natural Resources Committee approved bipartisan legislation Thursday aimed at overhauling permitting reviews to enable faster buildout of new energy and infrastructure projects at a moment of unprecedented power demand growth and rising electricity prices. Chair Bruce Westerman’s SPEED Act would limit the scope of permitting reviews and restrain legal challenges for projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental protection law Republicans and some … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
by Ella Nilsen, Steve Contorno
The Trump administration is proposing to open federal waters off the entire coastline of California to drilling, as well as an area off the coast of Florida. Neither state’s waters have been open to new drilling for decades. President Donald Trump’s Interior Department released a five-year offshore drilling plan on Thursday that would open up vast parts of California’s coastline to drilling, which hasn’t happened in that state since the late 1960s. The Department is also proposing new oil … Continue Reading
November 19, 2025
House votes to kill Biden-era curbs on drilling, mining
by Garrett Downs
The House on Tuesday voted to overturn a slew of Biden administration land protections through the rule-busting Congressional Review Act. The House passed S.J. Res. 80 from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) to ax former President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw millions of acres from production in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. Three moderate Democrats — Jim Costa of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas — crossed the aisle to vote "yes." The legislation … Continue Reading
November 18, 2025
Democrats revive package of bills to clamp down on fracking
by Andres Picon
A group of Democrats are reviving a package of bills that would tighten federal regulations for oil and gas drilling, in a rebuttal to expected votes in the House to shore up the energy industry this week. The five-bill package, dubbed the “Frack Pack,” aims to hold oil and gas companies accountable to national standards for air and water quality. It would also eliminate the so-called Halliburton Loophole, which has exempted fracking fluids from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act … Continue Reading
November 18, 2025
Natural Resources sets NEPA overhaul markup
by Kelsey Brugger, Garrett Downs
The House Natural Resources Committee plans to vote later this week on legislation to revamp the National Environmental Policy Act. A markup of several bills will feature H.R. 4776, the "Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act," which would narrow the scope of environmental scrutiny of projects and limit litigation. Westerman said Monday evening that the committee was working on updated text that may encourage more Democrats to support the legislation. Many … Continue Reading
November 15, 2025
A major California highway is sliding toward the sea. There is no quick fix
by Julie Johnson
CRESCENT CITY, Del Norte County — Rattled by earthquakes. Pummeled by wind and rain. Buried in landslides. This 3-mile stretch of Highway 101 atop a cliff in California’s far north careens through old growth redwood forests and across an earthen river of dirt and rock that is constantly shifting downslope toward crashing waves. For more than a century, Del Norte County residents have called it Last Chance Grade, though no one recalls who coined the foreboding name. A freshly paved road … Continue Reading
November 12, 2025
Trump administration moves to rescind Public Lands Rule
by Robert Schaulis
Just over a year after the Biden administration signed off on a Public Lands Rule that would significantly increase the federal government’s ability to conserve public lands, the Trump administration announced plans to terminate that rule within the Bureau of Land Management. The termination of that rule has entered a public comment period. “The 2024 Public Lands Rule, formally known as the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, made conservation (i.e., no use) an official use of public … Continue Reading
November 11, 2025
Interior: NEPA doesn’t apply to megalaw’s offshore lease sales
by Shelby Webb, Ian M. Stevenson
The Interior Department said Monday that the National Environmental Policy Act "is not applicable” to dozens of offshore federal oil and gas lease sales mandated by the megalaw signed by President Donald Trump in July. Alyse Sharpe, a spokesperson for Interior, told POLITICO’s E&E News that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) requires regulators to use the same lease forms, terms, conditions and stipulations that were used for the last federal offshore lease auction held during Trump’s … Continue Reading
November 10, 2025
UN climate talks launch with few lawmakers planning to attend
by Amelia Davidson
The COP30 global climate talks are set to kick off in Brazil this week, with a limited United States presence — and only a fraction of the congressional lawmakers who have become staples at the conference. The ongoing government shutdown has stymied lawmakers’ plans to head to the talks in Belém, leaving just a handful of Democratic House members as the likely federal elected presence at the gathering. World leaders started making remarks last week ahead of the conference's formal … Continue Reading
November 10, 2025
Dems urge Burgum to retain Biden-era public lands rule
by Scott Streater
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum not to revoke a rule that elevates conservation on par with other uses of millions of acres of rangelands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Doing so would “undermine the long-term resilience of BLM lands at a time when wide-ranging stressors — including climate change, biodiversity and habitat loss, and increasing public demand for access to public lands — require stronger, not weaker, management … Continue Reading
November 10, 2025