Reliving the Good Old Days of American Energy
By 
Was the Exxon Valdez your idea of a good time? How about the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill? If you think that’s MAGA, then Donald Trump is here for you!
The Trump administration plans to propose new oil and gas drilling off the California coast for the first time in roughly four decades, according to three people briefed on the matter.
The move would set up a confrontation with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has fought offshore drilling and who has emerged as one of President Trump’s chief political adversaries. The governor is in Brazil for the United Nations climate summit, where he is drawing a contrast between himself and Mr. Trump, who denigrates efforts to fight global warming.
The Interior Department could announce the proposal as soon as this week, according to the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The plan would also require new oil and gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which Mr. Trump is calling the Gulf of America. That could prompt pushback from Republicans from Florida, who have opposed new drilling there ever since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig disaster devastated the state’s tourism industry.
Elements of the proposal were reported earlier by the Washington Post and Politico. Representatives for the Interior Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The proposed lease sales in the Pacific Ocean would primarily be off Santa Barbara County, Calif., where a small amount of drilling is already occurring, according to two of the people familiar with the Interior Department’s draft plan.
There has been almost no fossil fuel development along the California coast since an enormous oil spill near Santa Barbara in 1969 that shocked the nation and helped to galvanize a national environmental movement. The spill sullied beaches in the popular coastal enclave, killed thousands of birds, damaged property and harmed the commercial fishing industry.
Trumpism is pure nostalgia. Nostalgia is a strictly reactionary emotion. His energy policy is a great example of nostalgic reaction. It’s nonsense on the face of it. But it reminds a lot of Americans of When Americans Kicked Ass Before All the Hippies and Commies Ruined It. So sure, let’s just turn the California beach into a hellhole again. It’s pure MAGA.