West Coast gets permanent offshore drilling ban in four federal planning areas
S. 1432 — West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2025 · Filed by Alex Padilla (D-CA) · 9 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 development in four specific ocean planning areas off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. The Secretary of the Interior would be prohibited from issuing any lease or authorization for oil or gas exploration, development, or production in these waters, regardless of any other law.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a permanent statutory prohibition on federal oil and gas leasing in four named offshore planning areas. It is a straightforward environmental conservation measure with no hidden provisions or unrelated riders.
What the text implies
- Permanently removes these planning areas from future federal oil and gas lease sales, foreclosing revenue that would otherwise accrue to the federal government and potentially to affected states under revenue-sharing formulas.
- The prohibition applies 'notwithstanding any other law,' which means it overrides conflicting statutory authorities and cannot be circumvented by future administrations through regulatory reinterpretation of existing law.
- Affects the 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program by removing four planning areas from consideration, potentially reshaping the geographic footprint of future federal leasing nationwide.
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 protection from offshore oil and gas development, which reduces risks of spills, environmental degradation, and climate emissions. The prohibition is permanent and removes discretionary authority, preventing future administrations from reversing the ban through regulatory action.
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSL Act), Washington/Oregon Planning Area, Northern California Planning Area, Central California Planning Area, Southern California Planning Area
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 8 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 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
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $773,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 64 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 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Alex Padilla, the sponsor, reported $176,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
- Defenders of Wildlife — $370,000 on 2 filings
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 (1,431 characters) on Aug 17, 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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