5 Species Threatened if the California Coastline is Opened for Oil Drilling

The Trump administration recently announced plans to dramatically expand oil and gas drilling across the U.S. coastline by an eye-watering 1.27 billion acres.

Among the many mostly untouched places targeted in the proposal is the California coastline, which hasn’t seen an offshore oil sale since 1984. Introducing new oil drilling here puts the entire Pacific Ocean ecosystem at risk, from Alaska’s icy lagoons down to the warm waters of Central America.

The Pacific is teeming with biodiverse  ecosystems that are home to rare turtles, orcas, thousands of seabirds, whales, and countless other forms of marine life. All of these would be threatened by oil and gas drilling, as well as the millions of people who depend on these ecosystems for everything from food to tourism to recreation.

The Trump administration is taking comments on its national offshore drilling plan until January 22. This is your chance to speak up for the health of our coastlines and those who depend on them.

Humpback whales lunge feed in Monterey Bay, California. (Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images / Getty Images)

Humpback whales

Humpback whales are a beloved sight along the Pacific Coast. In winter, they can travel 5,000 miles to the warmer waters of Hawai’i and Mexico to breed and raise their young.  Whales are extremely vulnerable to ship strikes, poisoning, and deafening seismic blasts from offshore oil exploration.

All Humpback whales were once listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA); after decades of conservation, most subpopulations rebounded enough to be removed from the ESA. Yet five subpopulations remain at risk, and federal protections are critical to ensuring that all Humpbacks can swim safely throughout their historic habitat.

These threats from offshore drilling are compounded by the Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate habitat protections in the ESA for imperiled species like the Humpback whale. Earthjustice won legal fights against the first Trump administration that safeguarded protections for individual species when it tried weaken the ESA the first time. We’re prepared to do so again.

A sea otter in Moss Landing, California. (Michael J. Cohen / Getty Images)

Sea otters

This keystone species was once thought to have been hunted to extinction by the fur trade until a small colony was discovered off the California coast in 1938. Under federal Endangered Species Act protections, the otters have slowly recovered and are critical for controlling invasive sea urchins.

Oil spills are deadly for sea otters, who suffer hypothermia when oil coats their fur and prevents thermoregulation. Earthjustice successfully defended sea otters in the past, securing access to their historical habitat in a major Supreme Court case.

A leatherback sea turtle lifts its head for a breath in Monterey Bay, California. (Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images / Getty Images)

Leatherback sea turtles

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtle species in the world, weighing up to 2,000 pounds. Yet these towering creatures are highly endangered, having lost 40% of their population in only three generations. Their long migrations put them at high risk from oil drilling, as they can ingest oil while swimming or eating contaminated food.  They can also become coated in oil to the point of losing mobility.

When the Trump administration tried to illegally open one of the world’s most pristine tropical marine environments to commercial fishing last spring, we sued to protect animals like the leatherback turtle — and we won.

A marbled murrelet floats on the sea. (Martin Raphael / U.S. Forest Service)

Marbled murrelets

Marbled murrelets hunt in the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to California. Like all seabirds, murrelets face many threats from offshore oil drilling, including ingesting toxic fish and losing their ability to fly above water when their feathers are coated in oil.

Yet, unlike most seabirds, murrelets face habitat loss on two fronts: they mainly nest in coastal forests such as in the Pacific Northwest, which are disappearing due to overlogging. Earthjustice won federal endangered species protections for the marbled murrelet in 1992 and has continued defending this unique seabird for decades.

Salmon running at Taylor Creek in Northern California. (Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography / Getty Images)

Wild salmon

Wild salmon, such as sockeye and chinook, are at the heart of Pacific life. They nourish multiple species on land and sea, supply nutrients that enrich our forests during migration, and have been culturally significant to humans for centuries. Their legendary runs take them from freshwater rivers at birth to the open ocean, where they spend most of their lives. Threats to salmon have downstream impacts on all life that depend on them. Studies have shown that a single oil spill can harm salmon populations for generations, causing heart defects, genetic deformities, and egg mortality.

Earthjustice has defended salmon on multiple fronts, including advocating for the removal of outdated dams in the Pacific Northwest that have depleted fish populations, and winning federal limits on 6PPD, a chemical in tires that breaks down over time and kills salmon instantly, on behalf of Tribes.