By Jonathan Ullman, Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter Director
What unites people--right, left, or indifferent--who don’t agree with each other? No, I’m not talking about the release of the Epstein files. The Congressional vote on that one was 427-1, a unified front not experienced since perhaps the American Revolution.
Almost as HUGE this week was the bipartisan repudiation of Trump’s offshore oil drilling leases. (Read AP story.) We found Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom singing from the same hymnbook. We marvel at US Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) in total alignment. We witness U.S. Representatives Jimmy Patronis (R-Panama City, FL), Matt Gaetz’s successor and Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara, CA) with zero daylight between them.
What unites these strange bedfellows is the trauma, fear and vulnerability when oil is blasting furiously out of a hole in the ocean with no end in sight. It doesn’t matter if an R or D is in charge when the ocean turns to hell. The Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 is still the third largest oil spill in U.S. history. President Nixon toured the damage on the beach. Soon after a nationwide environmental movement fueled by the spill led to the passage of foundational environmental laws during his term. Four decades later, the 2010 BP Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico became the worst marine oil disaster in history. It jettisoned almost 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf over 87 days, up to 419 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Both disasters left deep, lasting scars and unhealed wounds.
Most recently a pipeline blowout in 2015 off the Gaviota Coast soiled Santa Barbara Channel and the California coastline. A new company Sable attempting to restore Exxon’s production after 10 years with the same corroded pipeline has triggered a massive community backlash.
As Joe Biden said on Jan 6, 2025 when he issued an order to remove certain areas from offshore oil drilling, "My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation's energy needs. It is not worth the risks." We agree.
While many may shudder at the shock of Trump’s new push to open up California, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida to more offshore drilling, the silver lining is that it is producing a bipartisan, united front. Trump may think he is DOMINATING American energy with his announcement, but the only real power he’s producing is the bipartisan backlash against him.