The State Senate passed a bill co-authored by a South Coast legislator intended to try to block the Trump Administration’s efforts to open the state’s coastline to new oil exploration.
SB 834 would ban the State Lands Commission from approving any new infrastructure like pipelines to get oil from federal waters to shore.
The state regulates the area from the coastline to federal waters three miles offshore. Democratic State Senator Hanna-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara co-sponsored the legislation in response to a federal proposal for a massive expansion of offshore oil drilling. The bill now moves to the State Assembly for consideration.
