Congress moves to permanently ban offshore oil drilling off Southern California
H.R. 2862 — Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act · Filed by Mike Levin (D-CA) · 23 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 in the Southern California Planning Area of the outer continental shelf. It prevents the federal government from issuing any leases or permits for oil or gas exploration, development, or production in that specific offshore region, overriding any other law that might otherwise permit such activity.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a permanent prohibition on federal oil and gas leasing in a named offshore region. It is a straightforward environmental and coastal-protection measure with no hidden provisions or unrelated riders.
What the text implies
- Permanently removes the Southern California Planning Area from future federal leasing programs, preventing any future administration from reopening it without new legislation.
- May reduce federal revenue from lease sales and royalties in that region, shifting energy development pressure to other planning areas or private lands.
- Aligns federal law with California state policy (which has opposed offshore drilling) and may strengthen state-federal coordination on coastal protection.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens in and near Southern California gain protection from offshore oil and gas development, which reduces risks of spills, platform impacts, and climate emissions. The prohibition is permanent and removes discretionary authority, preventing future administrations from reversing the protection through regulatory action.
Named in the bill
Department of Interior (Secretary), Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSL Act), Southern California Planning Area, National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (2024–2029)
Where it stands
23 cosponsors: 23 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
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,053,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 59 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 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Levin, the sponsor, reported $429,156 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
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 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 (733 characters) on Aug 11, 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 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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