Biden admin paves way to cease all offshore California fossil fuel drilling operations

The Biden administration issued a federal plan Thursday to remove all remaining oil and gas infrastructure located off the California coast once they stop producing.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) published a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for "Oil and Gas Decommissioning Activities on the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf." The filing formally recommends a plan ensuring no fossil fuel infrastructure remains off California's coast that could interfere with other offshore operations like navigation and commercial fisheries.

"We completed a robust analysis based on sound science, Tribal consultation, public input, and the best available information," Bruce Hesson, BSEE's Pacific region director, said in a statement. 

"This final PEIS provides BSEE with important guidance on future decommissioning applications for the complete removal and disposal of oil and gas platforms, associated pipelines, and other facilities offshore Southern California," he continued.

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Overall, 23 oil and gas drilling platforms, which have been standing for decades, are located in federal waters off the coast of California, according to the California State Lands Commission. One of the platforms is a processing facility while the other 22 produce oil and gas. Eight of the platforms stand unused.

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Under the BSEE action announced Thursday, the agency chose a proposal involving the complete removal of the platforms, topside, conductors, the platform jacket to at least 15 feet below the mud line, pipelines, power cables, and other subsea infrastructure.

The plan to remove the platforms comes as federal offshore California drilling activities continue to dwindle to near-zero levels. As of 2021, less than 11,000 barrels of crude oil were produced per day in the region, down 94% compared to its peak in the 1990s, federal data showed.

And the Biden administration proposed a plan late last month to hold the fewest number of offshore oil drilling leases in U.S. history as part of a five-year plan that ends in 2029. The plan includes just three lease sales which would all take place in the Gulf of Mexico. A Trump administration version of the plan laid out six lease sales off the coast of California.

"The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building a clean energy future that ensures America’s energy independence," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said on Sept. 29. 

"The Proposed Final Program, which represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history, sets a course for the Department to support the growing offshore wind industry and protect against the potential for environmental damage and adverse impacts to coastal communities."