The Trump administration’s expected announcement this week of its plans to expand oil and gas drilling off California is already fueling the feud between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Although the plan, first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, is years away from fruition, Newsom wasted no time shooting it down, calling it “dead on arrival” at the 30th annual Conference of Parties (COP30) climate summit in Belém, Brazil.
“It’s never going to happen. Over our dead body. Dead on arrival. Period. Full stop,” the Democratic governor and 2028 White House hopeful said about the proposal to sell six offshore leases along California’s coast between 2027 and 2030. The plan also entails expanding drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration refers to as the Gulf of America.
“He’s an invasive species. He’s a wrecking-ball president,” Newsom added. “He’s trying to roll back progress of the last century. He’s trying to re-create the 19th century.”
Newsom has gone head to head with the president on a number of other issues since Trump took office this year, including his use of the military to act as civilian law enforcement in cities like Los Angeles and partisan redistricting efforts that favor Republicans.
The oil lease plan follows through on Trump’s campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill” and increase domestic energy production, despite urgent warnings by scientists that burning fossil fuels, like oil and gas, will further heat the planet and exacerbate the climate crisis.