California AG Opposed NOAA “Review” of Marine Sanctuaries

JULY 26, 2017

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expressing “his strong opposition to the Trump administration’s ‘review’ of four national marine sanctuaries located off the California coast: Channel Islands, Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones, and Monterey Bay.” In his letter, Attorney General Becerra “underscored that California’s national marine sanctuaries contain some of the most significant marine ecosystems in the world, that the fossil fuel resources underneath these sanctuaries are miniscule or entirely speculative, and that the Trump administration’s review is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the applicable legal requirements that govern the creation and expansion of marine sanctuaries.”