An oil company wants to restart fracking off the California coast. The states top coastal officials say no way

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Set us as preferred Santa Cruz, Calif. — Just days after the Trump administration launched proceedings that could limit California’s ability to protect its iconic shoreline, the state’s top coastal officials reasserted their authority by voting unanimously against an oil company’s controversial bid to restart underwater fracking operations.This is the first time the California Coastal Commission has officially reviewed the issue of offshore fracking.Until now, the practice had been quietly rubber-stamped by the federal government without the state’s knowledge.The proposed fracking plan would quadruple production on an aging offshore platform in the Santa Barbara Channel.

The process of hydraulic fracturing ekes out oil from older wells, and involves cracking the bedrock several thousand feet below the seafloor by injecting chemical fluids with intense pressure.“This is just simply one of those cases where the juice isn’t worth the squeeze,” said Coastal Commissioner Ray Jackson at a meeting Thursday in Santa Cruz County.“This creates far too many opportunities for something to go wrong, and when something does go wrong, it’s our oceans, beaches, wildlife and coastal economy that pay the price.”The rejection of the plan comes at a time when Trump officials have sought to open the California coast to more offshore oil drilling, more rocket launches and possibly even floating nuclear reactors.

The administration’s latest attempt to wrest local control from California officials has homed in on stripping authority granted to the state by the Coastal Zone Management Act, or CZMA.The federal law gives coastal states the right to review and object to any project in federal waters that clashes with state policy.

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