{"id":79750,"date":"2026-03-14T11:12:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79750"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:12:46","slug":"padilla-condemns-trump-admins-illegal-use-of-emergency-powers-to-harm-californias-central-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79750","title":{"rendered":"Padilla Condemns Trump Admin\u2019s Illegal Use of Emergency Powers to Harm California\u2019s Central Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/strong> March 14, 2026 <\/b>\u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration\u2019s orders directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restore long-closed oil operations of the Santa Ynez Unit and Pipeline System along California\u2019s coastline:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCalifornians have repeatedly rejected dangerous drilling off our coast for decades. Now, after dragging the U.S. into a war with Iran and driving up oil prices, the Trump Administration is trying to exploit this crisis to further enrich the oil industry at the expense of our communities and our environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen firsthand the devastation oil spills cause to our oceans, our communities, and our economy. California has shown a better way, investing in clean energy and protecting the coastline that millions of Californians depend on. We will fight this illegal effort and continue to protect our coast.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Senator Padilla has been\u00a0leading the charge<\/a>\u00a0against offshore oil and gas leases.\u00a0Last December, Padilla and Representative Jared Huffman\u00a0(D-Calif.-02)\u00a0led 26 members of the California Democratic Congressional delegation in\u00a0condemning<\/a>\u00a0the Trump Administration\u2019s official draft 2027-2032 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program that includes six lease proposals off the coast of Northern, Central, and Southern California. Immediately after the Trump Administration\u2019s sell-off to Big Oil was announced, Padilla and Huffman\u00a0issued a joint statement<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0hosted a press call<\/a>\u00a0slamming the move. The month before, Padilla and Huffman\u00a0led over 100 lawmakers<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0demanding<\/a>\u00a0President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug\u00a0Burgum immediately cease any plans to\u00a0open new offshore oil and gas leases<\/a>\u00a0in U.S. federal waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in the Arctic Ocean and northern Bering Sea off of Alaska, and in the Eastern Gulf.<\/p>\n

\n

In April\u00a02025, Padilla and Huffman, along with Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Senator Jack Reed\u00a0(D-R.I.), and Representative Frank Pallone (D-N.J.-06),\u00a0announced a pair of bills<\/a>\u00a0to permanently protect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans from the dangers of fossil fuel drilling. Padilla and Huffman\u2019s\u00a0West Coast Ocean\u00a0Protection Act<\/em>\u00a0would permanently prohibit new oil and gas leases for offshore drilling off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. In 2021, Senator Padilla\u00a0joined<\/a>\u00a0West Coast Senators in\u00a0calling on Senate leadership\u00a0to include the\u00a0West Coast Ocean\u00a0Protection Act<\/em>\u00a0in the Senate version of the budget reconciliation bill after an estimated 126,000 gallons of oil\u00a0spilled<\/a>\u00a0off the coast of California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. March 14, 2026 \u2014...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79751,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750\/revisions\/79751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}