Michael Smolens: The politics of offshore drilling just got murky

As the midterm campaign season just started heating up, the Trump administration further injected offshore oil and gas drilling into the California political equation.

The announcement on Feb. 26 that it will start preparing an analysis for expanding drilling in federal waters off Northern, Central and Southern California likely gave some Republican congressional members heartburn.

Even if they oppose further offshore drilling, like many Republicans in other coastal states such as Florida, having the issue advance in this election wouldn’t seem to be doing any favors for GOP candidates running in swing districts. California may be overwhelmingly Democratic, but the GOP likely needs to win some of those districts to hold on to its slim majority in the House.

But the U.S. attacks on Iran launched two days later could scramble the political dynamics of offshore drilling that seemed to give Democrats an obvious advantage. Oil and gas prices surged.

There’s no telling how the military strikes and the fallout will affect the oil market in the long term. That may depend on whether the conflict continues for weeks, months, all the way to November or beyond.

If prices remain high for some time, that could soften opposition to more offshore drilling as concerns rise over national security amid restricted foreign supply. Clearly, there would be other ev...