How the Blue Wave Will Ripple Across Our Public Seas

The November 3 election swept Democrats into power in both chambers of Congress, and the tide will reach the ocean too. In his Common Dreams op-ed, David Helvarg argues that new committee gavels could change the fate of America’s public seas. Maria Cantwell, a foe of West Coast offshore drilling, is likely to retake the Senate committee that oversees NOAA and the Coast Guard. Jared Huffman, whose district lost roughly 300 miles of kelp forest, is expected to chair House Natural Resources. The damage of two Trump years won’t wash out quickly: gutted science agencies, offshore drilling and deep-sea mining pushed ahead, offshore wind attacked. Helvarg says the opening is real, from plastic pollution and farm runoff to seafood traceability. Much of it may meet a lame-duck veto, but it can still set the table for 2028.