San Luis Obispo County has committed $25,000 to a revived coalition of California local governments preparing to fight the U.S. Department of the Interior's plan to open federal waters off the state to oil and gas leasing.

The Board of Supervisors approved the contribution at its Aug. 18 meeting in a 3-2 vote, with 1st District Supervisor John Peschong and 5th District Supervisor Heather Moreno dissenting. The payment secures the county's seat in the Local Government Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Coordination Program, run out of Santa Cruz County.

The program targets the Interior Department's 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's draft proposed program schedules six offshore lease sales in federal waters off California over the next five years, if the plan wins approval. A BOEM map shows a federally designated area near Northern California touching the Oregon border opening in 2029, a Central Coast area opening from 2027 to 2029, and a Southern California area opening from 2027 to 2030.

The coalition first formed in 1980 to oppose new offshore lease sales during the Reagan administration and disbanded in 1994, after offshore drilling halted and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was designated. Santa Cruz County revived the group last year under 3rd District Supervisor Justin Cummings.

SLO County 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson said he had tracked the program's efforts and received a funding request a little over a month ago.

"I've been impressed with their organization and energy in carrying the anti-offshore oil message—I've also been increasingly concerned about the Trump administration's relentless attacks on California's coastal protections," Gibson said. "For those two reasons, I thought the time was right for SLO County to make a clear statement of our values and help fund the effort."

Richard Charter, whom Santa Cruz County hired to operate the program and who ran the coalition from 1980 to 1994, said the administration is disregarding national marine sanctuary protections designed to prevent offshore drilling.

"Back in the early '80s, we were having more oil spills primarily due to poor inspection and poor monitoring, combined with aging infrastructure," Charter said. "The whole orientation of the federal program is now aimed at opening new areas that they've never been able to open. … So, is this more dangerous than the early '80s? Absolutely."

The coalition's earlier success rested on what Charter called "California's Blue Wall" — more than two dozen county ordinances, some passed by voters, that restricted or banned onshore support facilities for new offshore drilling. SLO County's Measure A, approved by voters in 1986, remains part of the county's local coastal program.

The renewed strategy aims to chill lease bidding in two ways: adding to the existing ordinances and pressing to strengthen the ban on using state infrastructure to serve new federal leases. The California Coastal Sanctuary Act already permanently prohibits new oil and gas leases in state waters out to 3 nautical miles from shore.

SLO County joins Monterey, Marin, San Mateo, and Sonoma counties plus the city of Monterey, which have contributed between $1,000 and $30,000 each. Santa Cruz County and the city of Santa Cruz paid $29,000 apiece, bringing the coalition's total funding to $192,000.

Peschong, Moreno, and two county residents told the board at the Aug. 18 meeting they opposed sending taxpayer money to Santa Cruz County. Their objections prompted 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding to request a report from Santa Cruz County detailing how the SLO County contribution gets spent.

Charter said the funds will go toward "legislative and procedural engagement."

"The idea is counties need to be informed about how they can best participate, kept up on the deadlines, because there are a lot of deadlines, and that enables them to be working in a coordinated fashion," he said. "Nobody's missed a deadline yet because I keep them up to date."

The supervisors' vote follows their December 2025 resolution reaffirming opposition to new and existing offshore oil drilling and seabed mining, on which Peschong was also the sole dissenter.

The watch item: whether BOEM's draft leasing program survives approval, and whether the coalition's ordinance expansions can suppress bidding before the first proposed Central Coast and Southern California lease windows open in 2027.