Trump is coming for California
It’s up to us to resist his
drill, baby, drill agenda
Tell BLM: No Drilling Near Neighborhoods and Sensitive Ecosystems
Tell Newsom: Stop the Buffer Zone Auction
Trump vs. CA: A Timeline of Attacks
From day one, the Trump administration has moved against California’s water, air, coastline, public lands, cities, and universities. Here’s what’s happened so far — with sources for every claim.
WHAT’S NEXT
December 2026 (anticipated): BLM expects to hold California’s first federal oil and gas lease sale since 2020 — and its largest since at least 2009 — auctioning an initial list of 44 parcels (nearly 36,000 acres) across the Bakersfield and Central Coast regions. Of those 36,000 acres: nearly 13,000 acres border Carrizo Plain National Monument; about 3,800 acres overlap SB 1137 health protection zones; approximately 900 acres are located in the Lokern-Buena Vista and more than 400 acres in the Chico Martinez Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.
2026
CLIMATE & AIR
AUGUST 20, 2026
“Trump Is Trying to Crush California’s Climate Policies”
The New York Times reports that at least half a dozen federal agencies have coordinated to dismantle California’s climate leadership — tying together the actions below into one sustained campaign.
DISASTER AID
AUGUST 4, 2026
Wildfire aid still withheld, 19 months later
Gov. Newsom publicly invites Trump to finally deliver “overdue” federal wildfire recovery funding during a Los Angeles visit — funding still delayed since the January 2025 fires.
COAST
JUNE 26, 2026
Commerce Dept. orders review of the California Coastal Commission
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick orders NOAA to review California’s Coastal Management Program — the framework behind the Coastal Commission, the State Coastal Conservancy, and the SF Bay Conservation and Development Commission — calling the state’s oversight “environmental extremism” and citing its pushback on spaceport launches, offshore oil, pipeline maintenance, and desalination. The review comes just after a Biden-era evaluation wrapped up, and coincides with the fight over restarting Sable Offshore’s Santa Barbara pipeline. State officials warn it could strip millions in program funding or roll back California’s say over federally permitted coastal projects. NOAA’s notice sets an Aug. 10 in-person meeting in Santa Monica, virtual sessions, and a public comment deadline of August 22, 2026.
PUBLIC LANDS & OIL
JUNE 2026
BLM finalizes plans opening 1M+ acres to drilling — skips required state review
BLM issues Records of Decision finalizing oil and gas leasing plans for both its Bakersfield and Central Coast regions, opening more than a million acres of public land and federal mineral estate across 17 counties — from Kern and Santa Barbara to Alameda and Santa Clara — to leasing, including fracking. Environmental groups say BLM skipped the Governor’s legally required 60-day Consistency Review before finalizing the decision, and that the plans directly conflict with SB 1137’s 3,200-foot health and safety buffer zones and California’s statewide fracking ban. It’s the third time in a decade BLM has attempted this in the Bakersfield region and the second in the Central Coast region — both prior attempts were halted by litigation — and comes roughly a month after nearly half a million public comments were submitted in opposition.
CLIMATE & AIR
JUNE 2026
EPA pushes to rescind four more waivers
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urges Congress to rescind four additional California Clean Air Act waivers covering light trucks and small engines like lawn equipment.
ENERGY
JUNE 4, 2026
$75 million in federal funding backs Oakland coal export terminal
The Trump administration commits $75 million in federal funding to the long-stalled, controversial Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, intended to ship coal for export — over the objections of Oakland officials and residents.
ENERGY
MARCH 2026
Offshore wind lease buyout after court loss
Following a court loss, the Trump administration pays out an offshore wind lease buyout/settlement rather than allow a California offshore wind project to proceed — part of a broader pattern of using federal payouts to cancel approved offshore wind development along the California coast.
PUBLIC LANDS & OIL
MARCH 2026
500,000+ people oppose Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda across CA’s lands and waters
More than 500,000 public comments are submitted opposing the Trump administration’s fossil-fuel push across California’s public lands and offshore waters, ahead of the March 6 deadline on BLM’s draft plan to reopen public lands to oil drilling and fracking.
COAST & OIL
MARCH 2026
Santa Barbara pipeline restart ordered
Trump orders Sable Offshore Corp. to restart its Santa Barbara pipeline, overriding state agencies that had denied permits over damage tied to a 2015 oil spill.
PUBLIC LANDS & OIL
JANUARY 13, 2026
Draft study proposes reopening 2 million acres to drilling
BLM releases a Draft Supplemental EIS proposing to move ahead, largely unchanged, with 2019-era plans to open nearly 2 million acres of Central California public land — from Santa Barbara to the Bay Area — to new oil and gas leasing and fracking.
2025
COAST & OIL
NOVEMBER 24, 2025
Offshore drilling plan targets the California coast
The Interior Department unveils a draft plan allowing up to six new oil and gas lease sales off California — the first new leasing proposed there in roughly four decades.
POLITICAL RETALIATION
NOVEMBER 13, 2025
DOJ sues to block California’s new congressional map
After California’s legislature passes a new congressional map to counter Texas’s mid-decade gerrymander and voters approve it (Prop 50, Nov. 4), the DOJ formally sues to block it from taking effect.
FUNDING
AUGUST 1 – SEPTEMBER 23, 2025
UCLA research funding frozen, then restored by court order
The administration freezes hundreds of millions in federal research grants to UCLA over alleged civil-rights violations. A federal judge later orders roughly $500 million restored.
FUNDING
JULY 16 & AUGUST 26, 2025
Over $4 billion pulled from high-speed rail
The Federal Railroad Administration cancels roughly $4 billion in grants for California’s high-speed rail project, then cuts an additional $175 million weeks later.
IMMIGRATION
JULY 10–12, 2025
Militarized raids on Ventura County farms
Federal agents raid two Southern California farms. More than 300 people are detained; a farmworker dies of injuries sustained fleeing the operation.
IMMIGRATION
JUNE 30, 2025
DOJ sues Los Angeles over sanctuary policy
The Justice Department sues the City of Los Angeles, claiming its sanctuary-city ordinance fueled protests against ICE.
MILITARIZATION
JUNE 7–9, 2025
National Guard and Marines sent into Los Angeles
Over Gov. Newsom’s objection, Trump federalizes 2,000+ California National Guard troops and deploys active-duty Marines to LA — the first time in decades a president has sent the Guard into a state without the governor’s request. A federal judge later rules it unlawful.
CLIMATE & AIR
MAY 22 – JUNE 12, 2025
California’s clean-car authority revoked
The Senate votes to kill California’s Clean Air Act waivers, and Trump signs the resolutions into law — ending the state’s authority to enforce its 2035 gas-car phaseout and clean-truck rules.
IMMIGRATION
FEBRUARY 7, 2025
Sanctuary-funding fight begins
A coalition led by San Francisco (with Santa Clara, Portland, King County, and New Haven) sues the administration over its push to condition federal funding on cooperation with immigration enforcement.
WATER
JANUARY 31–FEBRUARY 3, 2025
Reservoirs drained on Trump’s order
The Army Corps releases roughly 2.2 billion gallons from Lake Kaweah and Lake Success. Local officials say the water was wasted, needed for summer irrigation and firefighting, and never reached Los Angeles as claimed.
WATER
JANUARY 24, 2025
Executive order targets the Delta
Trump signs Executive Order 14181, directing federal agencies to pump more water out of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and threatening to condition disaster aid on California changing its water and forest policies.