Santa Barbara County Faces Losing the California Coastal Commission

Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, celebrated passage of the 54^th anniversary of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) by issuing a draft report finding the California Coastal Commission unjustifiably hostile towards offshore oil and Vandenberg’s Space X. 

The act, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 27, 1972, required federal agencies to meet with their state counterparts to determine whether proposed coastal projects would run afoul of state coastal management plans. This applies to projects in federal waters or on federal lands along the coast. Right now, 34 states have such plans and rely upon the Coastal Zone Management Act. If Secretary of Commerce Lutnick moves ahead with his finding of “non-adherence,” California will be the first and only state to have been excommunicated.  

Mentioned frequently in the draft report was that the Coastal Commission and two smaller state agencies had not given adequate weight to the commercial and national security benefits of oil and gas development, of Space X launches, and even of the recreational opportunities for trucks, cars, and motorcycles on the Oceano Dunes. Issued through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the draft report concluded that the Coastal Commission also dragged out the permitting process for offshore desalination projects necessary to offset the state’s loss of water from the Colorado River. Such delays, the report found, added exorbitantly to project costs.   

Unless the Coastal Commission convincingly demonstrates it intends to comply with a list of 18 corrective actions, the non-adherence finding could go into effect as soon as 30 days. That would include offering to meet with Space X and Sable Offshore—both cited as having been given short shrift by the commission. For example, when it required Sable to receive a Conditional Use Permit before it could begin repairing its ruptured and corroded pipeline, the company refused and continued work citing a 1980s permit granted to a previous pipeline owner. The Commission hit Sable with an $18 million fine, the highest in commission history and a Santa Barbara County judge agreed with the Coastal Commission. Sable then turned to the Trump administration which intervened on its behalf — citing national security concerns. This all but seized control from the state. That battle remains ongoing. 

Hostilities were also abundantly clear when Space X sought permission from the commission to increase the number of rocket launches from Vandenberg in 2024. Several commissioners made ad hominem political remarks regarding Space X founder Elon Musk, and the hundreds of millions he had spent on Trump’s re-election campaign. Musk sued on free speech grounds and the commissioners settled and apologized. Because the project took place on federal land and the launches are decreed part of the national defense infrastructure, the military commanders are under no requirement to pay commission comments any heed.

The same, however, is not true for offshore drilling projects in federal waters undertaken by private companies. For such projects, commission concerns must be addressed and costly mitigations can be legally imposed. 

In Santa Barbara County, not having the Coastal Commission covered by the Coastal Zone Act is serious given the amount of oil leasing the Trump Administration intends to pursue. For champions of the Act, the forced meeting between federal and state officials  provides the public a rare voice on development proposals.    

For the Coastal Commission, the report is not at all surprising, but it flies in the face of the large outpouring and testimony supporting the Coastal Commission and the CZMA  at a public hearing this past August. But the NOAA report found many with the oil industry, with Space X, with the dune drivers, and with the desal industry eager to describe the regulatory abuses they suffered at the hands of the commission. 

While the commission did not issue an official statement, commission chair Meagan Harmon, who also serves on the Santa Barbara City Council, wrote : “I’m one of the thousands of people who recently voiced overwhelming support for California’s track record on Coastal management….NOAA’s recent evaluation disregards not only those citizens but nearly 50 years of productive work with the federal government.”