"California May Have A Way To Block Trump's Offshore Drilling Push"

"When oil companies drill offshore, they still need to build infrastructure onshore, things like pipelines and helicopter pads. And it's cities who control the zoning and building permits that allow that, not the federal government." That gives state and local governments a way to say no.

"More than a dozen states oppose the Trump administration's proposal to open up nearly the entire U.S. coastline to offshore oil leasing. Federal officials will get public feedback on the plan in Sacramento on Thursday. The Interior Department says it takes local concerns into account — as happened in a recent controversial move with Florida — but states have no direct say, since the leasing would take place in federally controlled waters.

California thinks it may have found a way around. In fact, it's a strategy used the last time the West Coast was open for offshore oil drilling, in the 1980's, when President Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt was leading the push.

"We have enough energy to meet America's needs for thousands of years," said Watt at the time, "if we will have a government that will allow for its reasonable development.""

Lauren Sommer reports for KQED/NPR February 8, 2018.