'Locking a policy into law' would limit offshore drilling, Professor Frank tells L.A. Times

The best way to combat the Trump administration’s proposal to increase offshore drilling in California is through legislation, Professor of Environmental Practice Richard M. Frank told the Los Angeles Times.

In January, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced a leasing plan for the nation’s offshore oil and gas reserves that would allow exploration of areas of the California coast that have been off limits for decades.

Two bills currently in the California Legislature would prevent expanded offshore drilling, the Times story explains, by prohibiting the State Lands Commission - which has jurisdiction over tidelands and waters extending roughly three miles offshore - from allowing the construction of new pipelines, piers and other infrastructure necessary to transport oil and gas from water to land.

The commission consists of California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Controller Betty Yee and Finance Director Michael Cohen. The commission has not taken a position on the federal offshore drilling plan, but Newsom, front-runner in November’s race for governor, has expressed strong opposition to expanded offshore drilling.

But the only way to ensure expansion does not happen would be to block it legally, Frank said.

“Locking a policy into state law — which individual gubernatorial appointees or independently elected constitutional officers cannot change — really is the best, most effective tool in the toolbox,” he said.

Frank notes in the article that “perspectives can shift” among commissioners, recalling that in the 1980s, the State Lands Commission backed oil and gas development in tidelands off the Santa Barbara coast. After much protest, the commissioners voted 2-1 to reject the proposed project.

Richard M. Frank ’74 is a leader in the field of environmental law, professor of environmental practice and the founding director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.