San Luis Obispo County residents are gathering in Grover Beach for the Hands Across the Sand event. Participants are voicing concerns about offshore drilling and the future of fossil fuel use. Organizers said the demonstration is part of a broader movement happening across California, while others in the community support offshore energy production for economic and energy needs.
Charles Varni is one of the organizers for the event from the Surfrider Foundation.
“Enough already, we don’t need any more," Varni said.
From San Francisco to San Diego, branches of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation gathered on beaches in California to protest offshore drilling. Participants say this “Hands Across the Sand” event is also meant to stop the use of fossil fuels and encourage clean energy.
Varni said bringing offshore drilling to the Central Coast would do more economic harm than good.
According to the California Chamber of Commerce, beach tourism generated around $30.1 billion in 2023.
“Imagine a big oil spill on this beach; that's not good for tourism," Varni said. "It's a real threat to our economy. It's a threat to the whole California economy, where there are billions of dollars spent in beach tourism.”
People at the beach on Saturday mingled, discussed current offshore drilling policies and joined hands to show their support for clean energy.
Alonso Constantino is from Rancho Cucamonga. He said he did not know about the event but went to the booth to learn more.
“I don't see a reason to go into someplace that's environmentally sensitive to go and extract oil," Constantino said. "There's other places to get more oil with less impact and less damage.”
Constantino said he supports limiting offshore drilling if it isn’t necessary.
“If we get to the point where we actually need more petroleum, I could see revisiting that," he said. "But at this point right now, it sounds like from what I've read, we have more than enough petroleum.”
I reached out to the American Petroleum Institute which represents all segments of the country’s natural gas and oil industry. Holly Hopkins is the vice president of upstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute.
She responded with a written statement saying:
“Our industry has a long track record of safe and environmentally responsible offshore operations. Continued offshore oil and natural gas development can strengthen U.S. energy security by maintaining a diverse supply of reliable American energy, supporting jobs and helping meet growing demand. Advancing America’s energy leadership depends on responsibly developing our abundant domestic resources to keep energy reliable and affordable for consumers in California and across the country.”
A 2023 Public Policy Institute of California study on the state's energy workforce found around 94,000 jobs are tied to the fossil fuel industry.
Varni said he hopes this event brings more attention to offshore drilling.
“The only thing that really does make a difference is people getting together and expressing how they feel," he said.
