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‘Where You Drill, You Spill’

People overlook oil against a berm of sand to keep it from flowing from the ocean into the Santa Ana River as an oil spill from an offshore oil rig reaches the shore and sensitive wildlife habitats in Newport Beach, California.
People overlook oil against a berm of sand to keep it from flowing from the ocean into the Santa Ana River as an oil spill from an offshore oil rig reaches the shore and sensitive wildlife habitats in Newport Beach, California. Photo: David McNew/AFP (Getty Images)

The Trump administration put forward a controversial plan in 2018 to expand drilling in Pacific waters. While Trump never went forward with offering leases, the Huntington Beach spill is spurring California lawmakers in Washington, DC, to call attention to legislation they proposed earlier this year that would permanently ban drilling in federal waters along the West Coast.

“Where you drill you spill, and once again the inevitable has happened,” Rep. Jared Huffman, who introduced the legislation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, tweeted Monday. “We cannot keep allowing Big Oil to cause these ecological disasters. It’s time my legislation to ban offshore drilling becomes law.”

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