‘This is the Super Bowl’: Consultant hired by county says Trump’s offshore drilling plans will test local ordinances

In 1980, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors hired Richard Charter to help bring together California’s coastal counties to block offshore oil drilling developments. Now, 45 years later, the threat has returned under the Trump administration — and so has Charter.

Charter isn’t a scientist by any means, but he has always had a passion for protecting the ocean and environment. More than four decades ago, when Charter was a graphic designer, he suddenly found himself involved in environmental work, and went on to play an integral role in stopping offshore drilling in California. 

Earlier this year, Santa Cruz County officials revived the Outer Continental Shelf Local Government Coordination program, a coalition of cities and counties which, with Charter in the lead, were instrumental in the 1980s in setting up local and national laws to prevent offshore oil and gas developments along the West Coast. 

When the Trump administration announced it wanted to open the state’s coastline to oil and gas exploration — including two leases along the Central Coast — the county board of supervisors hired Charter once again to battle those plans. 

Leases for oil or gas drilling along the state’s coast have not been granted since 1984. In 2018, the Trump administration attempted to open most of the nation’s coastline for gas and oil leases, but met with strong opposition and lawsuits from coastal states and environmentalists. 

In his second administration, President Donald Trump is trying again, and wants to sell leases off protected coastlines in three stages: An area from San Diego to Big Sur would open in 2027 and 2029; from Big Sur to the Sonoma-Mendocino county border (including the San Francisco Bay Area) in 2027 and 2029; and an area from Mendocino north to the Oregon border would open in 2029. 

“Now, we have really the worst threat we’ve seen to our coasts, from any source,” said Charter. If the public doesn’t do anything and if public officials don’t address the issue, he said, the Trump administration might be able to get away with oil drilling in California.

Fighting offshore drilling in the 1980s

Back in the 1980s, Charter was a graphic designer who dipped his toes into environmental work, including efforts to stop the Warm Springs Dam in Sonoma County. The effort failed, and Charter quit environmental work for a while. 

But Gary Patton, former Santa Cruz County supervisor, remembered Charter as an activist who rose up to challenges and opportunities of any kind. Charter’s whole life changed because of a proposal to open up the coast near Bodega Bay by late President Jimmy Carter, Patton said. 

“I thought, well, it wouldn’t hurt if I just did a little flyer or something,” Charter said. “I really had quit environmental work, and I completely walked away, but I could do a little flyer, just to let people know.”

Charter’s grassroots organizing led him to apply for a job to help pull together towns and counties to fight ongoing proposals to open leases to drill oil off California’s shores. He got the job. 

Charter was creative and utilized his art background to connect with politicians and persuade them to support protecting the California coast, said Patton. He remembers joining Charter to visit the office of a Kansas congressmember in Washington, D.C., and recalls that Charter had prepared an oversized postcard.  

The postcard, according to Patton, had a picture of the coast near Big Sur and written on top of the scenery was “Save the Kansas Coast.” Charter was innovative in his lobbying, he added. “He wasn’t just representing progressive supervisors in California,” Patton said. “He ended up representing basically everything in Washington, D.C.” 

Charter frequently traveled to the nation’s capitol during his first tenure working as a consultant for the county, he said, often flying on the same planes as members of Congress. Some of those trips to the East Coast were the perfect opportunity to chat with politicians like then-U.S. Rep. Leon Panetta and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. 

During various trips to Washington, Charter would often bring his sons with him as his wife worked as a certified public accountant for an animal care facility in Marin. “We didn’t have an aerospace museum in Bodega Bay,” he jokes. He remembers dressing his sons in Sears suits with clip-on neckties since they would often tag along with him while he was lobbying politicians. 

Patton said Charter never went back to being a graphic artist full time. Protecting marine ecosystems became his life’s work, ultimately becoming the most knowledgeable person in the country on protections and national legislation. 

The present-day fight against the Trump administration

After nearly 25 years as a consultant for the coalition, Charter continued his work to protect marine ecosystems and sensitive coastlines as a senior fellow for nonprofit The Ocean Foundation. Charter also co-directed a short film about seabed mining called “Defend the Deep.” 

This April, Charter received a call from Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings. “He said, ‘Richard, I have a bad feeling about the current administration. Would you be willing to restart that same coalition?’” Charter said. 

After discussing Cummings’ proposal with his wife, Charter decided to roll his sleeves up and said yes. 

Charter believes the Trump administration is targeting California’s oceans purely out of political spite, as Gov. Gavin Newsom could be a potential presidential nominee in 2028, he said. In a leaked proposal, waters along the East Coast were being considered. But in an updated version, those areas are no longer being considered for oil leasing. In 2020, Trump extended a preexisting moratorium on oil drilling off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — states with Republican governors — until 2032. 

Charter added that what the current administration hasn’t accounted for is that protecting California’s coastline is a bipartisan issue. Almost every coastal county in the state – with the exception of Orange County – has ordinances prohibiting offshore drilling structures from being built, Charter said. 

Santa Cruz County now has a law that prohibits oil drilling and pipelines in unincorporated areas, and a separate ordinance from 1986 that requires voters to approve any offshore facility of over 20,000 square feet that supports offshore drilling operations. The local laws prohibit onshore infrastructure, such as docks, pipes and other structures used for storage and processing oil. 

In the 149-page document outlining the federal government’s plans for offshore drilling, there is no mention of respecting the national marine sanctuaries, which Charter calls “the string of pearls.” Each marine sanctuary – of which there are six off the West Coast – has its own set of regulations and a management plan, and each bans offshore drilling. 

Any changes to existing protections – ones that Charter helped advocate for decades ago – would require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to hold public hearings. “You can’t change arbitrarily the underlying protections afforded by a national marine sanctuary,” he said. The current administration is treating the past 45 years of bipartisan efforts to protect these areas like nothing, he added. The plans feel like an advertisement for “turning nature into money.” 

“In other words,” he said, “this coast is going to be ground up and turned into a financial reward for the oil companies that put the current president in office.” 

Both the county ordinances and marine sanctuary protections are “stronger than the East Wing of the White House,” Charter told Lookout. However, the fight against the Trump administration will ultimately test the power of these long-standing protections — especially the protections for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which are the strongest. 

When first crafting the county ordinances, Charter and organizers from environmental advocacy group Save Our Shores were certain they’d face lawsuits from the oil industry, he said. So they planned for such a scenario.

Local governments were able to draw up regulations dictating what was allowed on their coastlines as they pleased, which did not sit well with the oil companies. Eighteen of the drafted ordinances faced litigation from the oil industry, said Charter. The ordinances were challenged by the Western States Petroleum Association (previously called the Western Oil and Gas Association) — a nonprofit trade group that represents oil and gas companies in Western states — claiming the ordinances violated the commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution. 

After a two-year fight, a judge found that the ordinances were not violating any laws. “So, [the ordinances] are legally bomb-proof,” Charter said. “They can’t be overturned.” 

For the national marine sanctuaries, there is a long process that precedes establishing a protected sanctuary. In the case of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, there was an additional set of ironclad protections forged with the help of former Rep. Leon Panetta. 

“We call it the Leon Panetta National Marine Sanctuary,” Charter said. 

The Monterey Bay sanctuary is the most thoroughly protected sanctuary because the protections were established through legislation, in addition to the NOAA designation, said Charter. He remembers getting a call from Panetta at 3 in the morning while he was working in Washington, D.C., urging him to get to his office. 

“I went over there, and he said, ‘I’m putting the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on the Hurricane Andrew relief act,” Charter said of Panetta that 1992 morning. The bill, according to Charter, was the largest federal bailout of any Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster. Panetta, who was then chair of the House Budget Committee, quietly slipped the sanctuary’s enactment legislation onto the hurricane relief act, he said. 

“And so, it is unique as a sanctuary. It has this additional level of protection that was passed by Congress,” Charter said. “I believe it would take at the very least an act of Congress to undo it.”

Patton said that Santa Cruz County officials should feel very lucky that Charter is willing to take on this issue again, and added that the environmentalist was very successful in the past. 

Cummings said that it was really important to rehire Charter because he’s been in this situation before, and it’s new for present-day elected officials. “Having him help guide us through that process is really what’s been so valuable about bringing him back on board,” he said. 

Charter told Lookout that his job is to work himself out of one. In other words, try to repeat the same thing he did in 1994. “I knew I was burning the pier I was standing on by doing that,” he said, “but you’re not going to work for 25 years, and then not accomplish what you set out to do.”

Cummings added that Charter keeps him updated on which counties have joined the coalition, so far. Nearly all 15 coastal counties have joined the group; Monterey, San Francisco and Orange counties have yet to do so. Cummings said Monterey County is set to discuss a resolution in January. 

Charter compares the Trump administration’s attempts at overriding the county ordinances and sanctuary protections to people trying to spray paint the “Mona Lisa.” “It’s not going to happen,” he said. The “Mona Lisa” has many layers of bulletproof glass in front of the painting, and the California coast has something similar. 

“We have layers of protection here that are inviolate and cannot be undone. And we have removed any onshore facilities,” he said. 

Now that there is a “blue wall” — a network of protected areas along the coast — keeping oil companies from using the shores, Charter emphasizes that it’s going to be quite the fight: “This is the Super Bowl.” 

While Charter has reached retirement age, he’s committed to protecting the coast for as long as he can, especially when there’s no way of telling if the Trump administration will respect existing protections. Laws, he said, can be put back, but they can’t reassemble the California coast. It’s a “one-way trap” once the oil companies are able to acquire a lease because they won’t give it back. 

His deep appreciation for the environment keeps him going. Charter also wants to ensure that the next generation is left with a better future, which makes him think about his grandchildren. 

What also motivates him to continue his environmental work is one of the last interactions he had with his late friend Peter Douglas, former executive director of the California Coastal Commission. 

“He looked at me and said, ‘Richard, take care of the coast,’” Charter said, and he can’t think of anything better to do than to do just that. 

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