A coalition of environmental groups and elected officials joined forces on Friday to launch a new campaign against offshore oil drilling.
WILDCOAST and the Sierra Club's San Diego Chapter were joined by State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-38, U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, D-49, and San Diego City District 1 Councilmember Joe LaCava — all representing coastal communities — to unveil a billboard in Clairemont Mesa.
It shows oil rigs on the horizon at the beach during sunset with the message, "Enjoy your new sunset. Stop offshore drilling."
It's one of three billboards around town. The other two are in Pacific Beach. Wildcoast executive director Serge Dedina said they're placed in beach-loving communities to drive the message home.
"(That) really highlights the devastating impact that an oil spill would cause on the ocean, wildlife and San Diego," he said. "All those gorgeous Garibaldi in La Jolla Cove, sea turtles and blue whales, gray whales and humpback whales offshore, and San Diego's coastal economy, which is worth billions of dollars."
As a former mayor of Imperial Beach, Dedina saw firsthand how pollution could destroy the local economy. Repeated sewage spills from the Tijuana River Valley led to beach closures, which reduced tourism, lowered local business sales and depreciated property values.
"That's something we can't afford to happen to the rest of San Diego. And if a oil spill happened, that would have been the end of literally thousands of jobs in San Diego,” Dedina said.
In November, the Trump administration announced a plan for new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades. In March, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright ordered the restart of an oil pipeline off Santa Barbara's coast under the Defense Production Act — a Cold War-era law. The state is suing to stop that.
Dedina said an oil spill from offshore drilling is a certainty. The last time there was a spill in Southern California was in October 2021, when 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Elly oil rig off San Pedro Bay.
In response to the Trump administration's announcement, Levin, whose district includes Oceanside and southern coastal Orange County, has introduced the Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act to permanently ban new offshore drilling leases off California's Coast.
He said the bipartisan bill is a "permanent line in the sand."
"I'll use every tool available. Legislation, oversight, litigation, coalition building, all of it to make sure this drilling expansion never sees the light of day," Levin said. "The California coast is not a bargaining chip. It's not an asset on some company's balance sheet."
Also speaking at Friday's unveiling was whale- and dolphin-watching boat Capt. Russell D. Moore, who said beyond the devastation to marine life, there's also a human cost to oil spills.
An oil spill would cause "a complete die-off that would threaten to close industries that depend on daily activity," he said. "Sport fishing boats don't go out on Saturday and Sunday. They go out seven days a week to pay the crew to pay their families to keep the boat running.”
Moore said these families won't survive a prolonged shutdown. Environmentalists said offshore drilling could disrupt the more than $15 billion Southern California coastal economy.
