More than 300 residents and civic leaders from across the state showed up on August 10 to defend California’s coastline from a threat of federal interference during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hearing (NOAA) at the Hilton Santa Monica.
The hearing was one of three public meetings that are part of an unprecedented off-cycle review of the California Coastal Commission and other coastal management agencies, which partner with the federal government through the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).
The CZMA’s stated purpose is “to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance, the resources of the Nation’s coastal zone for this and succeeding generations.” However, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has stated the focus should primarily be on economic priorities such as spaceport infrastructure and offshore oil production, which have also been the purposes championed by President Donald J. Trump.
The more than four hours of impassioned public comment took issue with those priorities.
“This administration has a vision that is radically different from what people here in California and across the nation want for this coast,” said Alex Katz, the executive director of the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara.
Laura Deehan, the state director of Environment California in Richmond, expanded on that notion. “If there’s one thing that all Californians agree on it’s that we love our coast and our ocean,” she said. “We love our breathtaking beaches. We love our dramatic coastal bluffs with the fresh sea breezes.”
Deehan was one of many speakers who referenced the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, when more than three million gallons of crude sludge polluted 35 miles of beaches, killed thousands of animals, and resulted in President Richard M. Nixon signing the CZMA in 1972.
“A lot has changed since then,” Deehan said, “but one thing that has not changed: we still don’t want any more devastating oil spills to hurt our beaches and our marine life.”
Irene Cooke received cheers when she identified herself as representing the Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara. “We’re elder women who care passionately about the world we’re leaving to our grandchildren,” Cooke said. “I must speak out vigorously against this sham of a proceeding.”
Opposition was also expressed by the business community. Grant Bixby, a real estate broker in Newport Beach and a founding member of Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast, was one of the first speakers. “The brand of California is not offshore oil and gas,” he said. “How do we know the CZMA has worked? We know it’s worked because California has the world’s fourth-largest economy.”