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California has released its battle plan in a brewing war between the White House and coastal states opposed to the Trump administration's expansive offshore drilling ambitions. The state's powerful land commission said on Wednesday it will refuse to issue permits for infrastructure that drillers need to bring oil and gas from offshore fields to land. Meanwhile, the California Coastal Commission, which has authority to review oil and gas activity off the state's shores, also formally opposed Trump's plan to allow new drilling in Pacific waters. The strategy could serve as a blueprint for the governors and congressional delegations of coastal states, who are overwhelmingly united in bipartisan opposition to Trump's plan to open nearly all of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas development. California's three-member State Lands Commission is vowing to block construction of pipelines or to permit oil and gas from new offshore developments to flow through existing lines. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who chairs the commission, said the state will use "every tool available" to resist President Donald Trump's "cynical, regressive agenda." "I am resolved that not a single drop from Trump's new oil plan ever makes landfall in California, where our leadership in reducing emissions and curbing pollution has enabled exceptional economic growth," Newsom said in a statement.

The commission announced the plan ahead of a public meeting in Sacramento with the Trump administration to gather feedback on the offshore drilling schedule. It is the only meeting scheduled in California. "Creating a Five Year Program is a very open and public process, and [Interior Secretary Ryan] Zinke looks forward to meeting with more Governors and other coastal representatives who want to discuss the draft program," the Interior Department said in a statement. Without pipeline infrastructure, energy companies would have to rely on an expensive alternative used in deepwater drilling, which involves pumping hydrocarbons into massive floating storage stations and transferring oil onto ships to be brought to market. It's uncertain drillers are willing to shoulder that cost at a time of relatively low oil prices, when many companies are focusing on shorter-cycle development like production from onshore U.S. shale fields. "That would effectively kill the project," said Jeffrey Sultan, a law partner at Los Angeles firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell. He noted that Chevron gave up plans to develop the Point Arguello oil field about 30 years ago after a years-long legal dispute with Santa Barbara over tankering crude to California ports. Blocking pipeline access will certainly create an obstacle, but piping oil is the best and safest way to transport it, said Grady Hurley, an oilfield and maritime attorney at law firm Jones Walker. "If your main concern is environmental safety, I certainly would want a federally and state-regulated pipeline system in place as opposed to vessels carrying products that are subject to wind, weather, human nature and mechanical failures," he said.

Blueprint for other states