Environment | California to get first new national marine sanctuary in 32 years, banning offshore oil drilling for more than 100 miles of coastline

A long-standing effort by indigenous tribes and environmentalists to create the first new national marine sanctuary in 32 years along the California coast — an aquatic version of a new national park — where offshore oil drilling would be permanently banned reached a key milestone Friday.

The Biden administration has released its final environmental impact assessment for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, outlining the boundaries that would stretch along 116 miles of coastline in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

The area, which includes popular spots like Pismo Beach and the Gaviota Coast, is home to humpback whales, sea otters, leatherback sea turtles, kelp forests, rock reefs and more than 200 shipwrecks. Under the proposal, the new sanctuary would cover 4,543 square miles — an area almost four times larger than Yosemite National Park — and extend 60 miles offshore.

The Biden administration said Friday it plans to release final regulations in October, and the designation will officially end when President Biden leaves office in January. Former President Donald Trump tried to allow new offshore oil drilling off California, Oregon and Washington during his term, but those plans never came to fruition due to local and state opposition, including a law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 that would have banned new pipelines, terminals and other oil drilling equipment in state waters up to three miles off the coast.

The Chumash Sanctuary would be the first national marine sanctuary in the country proposed by an American Indian tribe. The Northern Chumash Tribe, headquartered in Los Osos, near Morro Bay, began promoting the idea in 2015.

“This is a great moment for the Chumash people and all who have tirelessly supported our campaign over the years,” Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, said Friday.

Walker, whose late father, Tribal Chief Fred Collins, led the campaign until his death in 2021, noted that tribal members “will always be connected to the past, present and future through this unique stretch of coastline and the true magic of its waters.”

The Chumash and Salinan tribes have inhabited the central California coast for thousands of years.

Under the proposed regulations, the tribes would work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to manage the new sanctuary. As with most sanctuaries, offshore oil and gas drilling and offshore mining would be prohibited. No new regulations are proposed for commercial or recreational fishing.

Despite this, many commercial fishermen in the area oppose the construction of a new reserve.

“We’re worried about the new regulations. What’s going to happen here?” said Tom Hafer, president of the Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization. “There are already so many rules we have to follow. This is another thing we have to worry about.”

Hafer fishes for black cod and spotted shrimp from his 43-foot boat, the Kathryn H. He said there are about 35 other commercial fishermen in the Morro Bay area who fish for salmon, rockfish, abalone and Dungeness crab, and they are all already subject to strict state and federal regulations.

“We’re a little cautious, a little scared,” he said Friday.

America has 15 national marine sanctuaries. They can be established by Congress or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under a law signed in 1972 by former President Richard Nixon.

There are four bays in California: Monterey Bay, stretching from the Golden Gate Bridge to Hearst Castle; the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California; the Farallones Gulf off the coast of San Francisco; and Cordell Shoal off the coast of Marin County.

The last national marine sanctuary created in California was Monterey Bay, established in 1992 by George H. W. Bush. It ended years of political battles after former President Ronald Reagan proposed allowing offshore oil drilling off the coast of Big Sur, San Mateo and other parts of Northern California.

One of the major controversies at the Chumash Sanctuary, which involved years of public hearings and over 100,000 public comments, was the issue of offshore wind farms.

Initially, proponents of the refuge proposed that its boundaries be adjacent to the southern edge of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, near Hearst Castle.

But President Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom have backed the construction of floating offshore wind farms off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt County to provide clean energy. In choosing Friday’s proposed alternative, NOAA left a gap around Morro Bay outside the new sanctuary to allow undersea cables to connect future offshore wind turbines to the state’s electric grid.

Tribal leaders and environmental groups have suggested that the reservation boundaries could be expanded once the wind farms are built.

On Friday, one of California’s top environmental officials expressed support for the idea.

“There is interest in a second phase that could extend the sanctuary north once the cables are in place,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s secretary of natural resources. “We have to cross that bridge when we come to it, but I support a focused discussion about how we can extend the boundaries.”

Crowfoot said the Newsome administration is very pleased that the asylum is finally over.

“This is a huge deal,” he said. “This part of the coast is really important environmentally. This is where the South Stream meets the North Stream. There’s an incredible amount of ecological richness there. Biologically it’s a really sensitive and important place, and culturally it’s also very, very important. This coastline that’s going to be protected now is fundamental to the Chumash people.”

Originally published: September 6, 2024 at 2:10 PM