Dear Community Member, 

On Tuesday, January 20th at 6 PM PST, I will be holding a telephone townhall to discuss the U.S. Department of Interior’s Five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program Draft Proposal.

This proposal, which was released in November of last year, includes the sale of six leases off of California’s coast, including two leases off of the Central Coast. It could be the first step in a process to open up our coastline to offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling, which could negatively impact our local communities and coastal economy. 

During the telephone town hall, on Tuesday, January 20th at 6 PM PST, I will discuss the potential impact of offshore oil or gas drilling and its infringement upon the federal, state, and local regulations that protect the beauty and bounty of California’s 19th Congressional District. I will talk about the work that I am doing with local officials to enforce those protections and bolster our coastline. Moreover, I will remind people to submit their public comments to the Administration about the offshore oil and gas leasing proposal.

To register a public comment on the Federal Register, by January 23, 2026, please click HERE.  

The above link will take you to the Regulations.gov docket for the “11th National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program: 1st Analysis.” Enter your comment in the text box or upload a document with your message. Provide your email address and select an identity (individual, organization, or anonymous). Then complete the reCAPTCHA verification and click “Submit Comment” to finish.

The expert guests that I plan to have join the telephone townhall include:

     -Dan Haifley, Executive Director of Save Our Shores

     -Katie Thompson, Monterey Bay Aquarium 

     -Aimee David, Vice President of U.S. and California Conservation 

To join my telephone townhall:

• Sign up to receive a call at the start of the event by clicking or visiting online at https://panetta.house.gov/live
• Dial in at 6:00 PM PST on Tuesday, January 20th by calling 833-380-0413
• Listen live online at https://panetta.house.gov/live

The people of the 19th Congressional District always stand up, speak up, and push back against any threats to the beauty and bounty of our home. Thank you for playing your part and let’s continue to stand together by participating in my telephone townhall on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Panetta
United States Representative
19th Congressional District, California