POLITICO: Big Oil Darlings Young Kim and Michelle Steel Could Lose Their Seats After Orange County Oil Spill

The impacts of the Orange County oil spill are still being felt by southern California families. This morning Politico’s Jeremy White laid out the political ramifications of the worst oil spill off the coast of Orange County in decades.

The article details how the area’s most prominent Republicans, Reps. Young Kim (CA-39) and Michelle Steel (CA-48), voted to defund disaster relief for Californians days before the pipeline burst in federal waters. 

White also described how both of the Orange County Republicans have deep ties financial and political ties to Big Oil: “Oil and gas companies and industry associations have donated around $25,000 to Kim’s congressional campaigns and at least $2,500 to elect Steel to the House.”

Michelle Steel has refused a ban on drilling off the shore of Orange County, even as oil suffocates her beaches’ birds and fishes, while Young Kim has refused to comment on where she stands in recent days.

Take a look at what Young Kim and and Michelle Steel’s constituents have been reading:

A major oil spill is permeating both a pristine stretch of California coastline and battleground House races.

Some of California’s most fiercely contested House districts are entirely or partially in Orange County, where officials have shuttered famed beaches after tens of thousands of gallons of oil poured into the water over the weekend.

[…]

The political positioning underscores how the environment is an important issue for many voters in one of California’s most picturesque and politically contested regions, suggesting the oil spill could become an issue in the rapidly approaching midterm elections. Environmental groups spent heavily in past cycles to elect Democrats to Southern California districts with climate-based appeals. Polling shows voters in the region generally favor environmental regulations even if they carry economic costs.

“People in Orange County absolutely love the beach. It is part of the identity of living in Orange County,” said Chapman University public policy researcher Michael Moodian, who has found Republicans voicing increasing support for combating climate change.

“I think it could be a risky proposition for Republicans if they are perceived as people who are not really taking this on with urgency and anger,” Moodian added, and Democrats are “absolutely using this oil spill as part of their campaigns.”

[…]

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democrats hoping to unseat Kim and Steel, meanwhile, excoriated the representatives for voting against legislation funding federal disaster relief and for receiving campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies. Oil and gas companies and industry associations have donated around $25,000 to Kim’s congressional campaigns and at least $2,500 to elect Steel to the House.

“While Orange County’s beaches become hazard zones littered with fish and bird corpses, Michelle Steel and Young Kim continue to stand with Big Oil,” DCCC spokesperson Adrian Eng-Gastelum said in a statement.

Numerous California Democrats have responded to the spill by urging a federal ban on further oil exploration in the waters off California’s coast. Among them are Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) — both of whom represent portions of Orange County and flipped formerly Republican seats in 2018 — and former Rep. Harley Rouda, who is looking to reclaim the seat he won in 2018 and then lost to Steel in 2020.

“As a nation, we must stop permitting oil drilling on federal lands and waters,” Rouda said in a tweet. “No other community should suffer what OC is suffering now.”

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