Congress moves to lock out oil drilling off West Coast forever
H.R. 2849 — West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2025 · Filed by Jared Huffman (D-CA) · 39 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to permanently ban oil and gas leasing and production in four specific ocean planning areas off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. The Secretary of Interior would be prohibited from issuing any lease or authorization for exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas in these waters, regardless of any other law.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a permanent prohibition on federal oil and gas leasing in four named West Coast planning areas. It is a straightforward environmental/conservation measure with no hidden riders or cross-purposes.
What the text implies
- The prohibition is permanent and cannot be reversed by future administrations without new legislation, locking in current policy direction regardless of political shifts.
- The bill references specific planning areas from a 2024–2029 leasing program, meaning it forecloses those particular tracts but does not address state waters (which are under state, not federal, control).
- Existing leases or authorizations issued before this bill's enactment are not addressed; the prohibition applies only to future issuances.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens in and near these coastal states gain permanent protection from offshore oil and gas development, which reduces risks of spills, environmental degradation, and climate emissions. The restriction applies only to federal leasing authority, not private property or existing operations, and reflects a democratic choice to preserve coastal resources.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSL Act), California, Oregon, Washington, Washington/Oregon Planning Area, Northern California Planning Area, Central California Planning Area, Southern California Planning Area
Where it stands
39 cosponsors: 39 Democrats.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 7 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,153,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 58 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Jared Huffman, the sponsor, reported $332,813 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
- Defenders of Wildlife — $370,000 on 2 filings
- Oceana Inc — $280,000 on 1 filing
- Ara Partners — $100,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 19, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,431 characters) on Aug 18, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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