Monterey County to consider joining a coastal coalition opposing offshore drilling and seabed mining.

In light of recent moves by the Trump administration to open up California’s coastlines to new drilling opportunities as well as deep seabed mining, Monterey County officials are making moves to defend coastal waters and shorelines by building a coalition with other local governments.

Supervisor Wendy Root Askew, who is also the co-chair of the California Coastal Counties Regional Caucus—a nonlegislative body focused on issues unique to coastal regions—submitted a county referral on Nov. 3 to adopt a resolution affirming the County of Monterey’s opposition to offshore drilling and seabed mining.

The referral also proposes joining and financially contributing to the local governments’ Outer Continental Shelf coordination program and coalition to ensure local governments’ perspectives are represented in response to conflicting federal decisions. 

“We don't take for granted the protections that have been put in place,” Root Askew says. “We intend to join with Santa Cruz County and these other regional communities, in addition to the state and federal lobbying efforts that we already have in place, because we are fully committed to the protection of our coastline”

The move is in response to several recent events, including the signing of the Unleashing American Energy Act executive order in January, 2025 and the Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources executive order in April 2025, which promotes deep seabed mining and “poses serious threats to the state's coastal economies, marine ecosystems, and climate goals” the referral states.

The local government OCS coordination program provides the infrastructure to address these challenges by offering shared resources, timely updates, and direct representation. The estimated annual costs for the coordination efforts will be around $250,000, which would be shared across participating jurisdictions to help reduce the cost burden on individual jurisdictions.

The referral aims to align Monterey County with a coalition modeled after one active in the 1980s, when a group of coastal counties organized strategic lobbying efforts to protect California’s marine coastline from oil and gas expansion.

Santa Cruz, Humboldt and Sonoma counties are currently members of the coalition. Several others, including San Mateo, Marin, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Ventura Counties, along with the city of Santa Barbara, are in the process of either agendizing or exploring the opportunity to join this effort, according to a press release by Santa Cruz Climate Action Network.

“Given the threats that are coming at us from the federal administration, we believe that it's necessary to be proactive in watching for potential risks as they may be popping up,” Root Askew says. “And then, staying in front of those risks to our coastal resources through coordinated advocacy and lobbying.”