Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to bar the Secretary from issuing a lease or other authorization for oil or natural gas exploration, development, or production in the Southern California Planning Area. The covered area is the Southern California area described in the September 2023 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program. The bill is a targeted offshore-leasing ban: it protects coastal communities, fisheries, tourism, and state coastal interests while removing future Southern California OCS opportunities for offshore oil and gas companies.
Who Benefits and How
Southern California coastal communities benefit because the bill reduces the risk of new offshore drilling activity near shorelines and local economies. Commercial fishing businesses benefit if fewer offshore oil and gas authorizations lower spill and infrastructure conflict risk. Coastal tourism businesses benefit because beaches and marine recreation face less exposure to new federal offshore leasing. California coastal regulators benefit from a statutory leasing ban rather than case-by-case federal leasing review.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Offshore oil and gas companies lose access to future Southern California Planning Area leases and authorizations. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must treat the Southern California Planning Area as unavailable for covered oil and gas leasing. Federal royalty beneficiaries lose potential revenue from future production in the covered area. Energy-development advocates must pursue offshore activity outside the Southern California Planning Area.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits oil and gas leases in the Southern California Planning Area.
- Blocks exploration, development, and production authorizations in that planning area.
- Uses the September 2023 2024-2029 National OCS leasing program to identify the covered area.
- Restricts Interior Department offshore leasing authority notwithstanding other law.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Prohibits Interior from issuing oil and gas leases or authorizations in the Southern California outer Continental Shelf Planning Area.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Environment, Public Lands
Primary Purpose
Prohibits Interior from issuing oil and gas leases or authorizations in the Southern California outer Continental Shelf Planning Area.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Southern California coastal communities
- Commercial fishing businesses
- Coastal tourism businesses
- California coastal regulators
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Offshore oil and gas companies
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
- Federal royalty beneficiaries
- Energy-development advocates
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Levin (for himself, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Peters, …
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology