Thread: Trump moves to open Atlantic coast to oil drilling for first time in 30 years

Trump moves to open Atlantic coast to oil drilling for first time in more than 30 years

By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson
April 7 at 4:22 PM

Surrounded by miners from Rosebud Mining, President Trump signs the Energy Independence Executive Order rolling back measures enacted by predecessor Barack Obama. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The White House is taking steps that could open up new areas of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to offshore oil and gas drilling, according to multiple individuals briefed on the proposal.

The White House is considering an executive order instructing the Interior Department to reverse President Barack Obama’s withdrawal of hundreds of millions of offshore acres from future drilling in December.
The executive order — which could come out in the next few weeks — represents President Trump’s latest attempt to promote domestic energy exploration by rolling back restrictions put in place by previous administrations, though it would take considerable time for Interior to carry out aspects of the proposed directive.

[On its way out, Obama administration moves to slam the door shut on Arctic drilling]

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday, in an address to the annual meeting of the National Ocean Industries Association, confirmed that there was an executive order addressing offshore, “on the way … likely next week,” according to Nicolette Nye, a spokeswoman for the group.

However, Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said that Zinke was alluding to the executive order Trump signed last week and that the department was “reviewing our offshore policies and regulations.”

Other oil industry officials, participants at the NOIA meeting, and a GOP lawmaker from an affected state said that they had not been briefed and that the order might not be issued any earlier than May. People familiar with the planned order spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has not been formally announced yet.

Zinke’s comments highlighted the extent to which Trump’s March 28 executive order is already reverberating throughout the federal government. That directive instructed the heads of all agencies to “review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (collectively, agency actions) that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources, with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy resources.”

Andrew Weissman, senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said in an interview that industry officials, legal experts and others are just beginning to understand how the order could affect “almost every environmental regulation that affects energy in any way” as well as many non-environmental rules.

“It literally applies to everything the federal government does that affects energy development and use,” he said.

The Pacific coast has been closed to new oil and gas exploration since the disastrous oil spill off Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969. There has been no drilling off the Atlantic coast since the early 1980s.

Early in his administration, Obama considered allowing seismic work in preparation for exploration off the southeastern coast, from Florida to Virginia. And he did not move to stop Royal Dutch Shell from drilling an exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s Arctic coast; the well turned out to be a dry hole. But near the end of his presidency he closed off vast areas.

[How Trump is rolling back Obama’s legacy]

The Trump directive under consideration has two elements, according to people familiar with it. One part would instruct Interior to revise its current five-year leasing plan to schedule sales of some areas in both the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, which are not included now.

A second part would rescind the designation Obama made under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) in December to withdraw large portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic and a string of undersea canyons in the Atlantic stretching from Massachusetts to Virginia from leasing for an indefinite period.

Bloomberg first reported news of the directive on Thursday.

Environmental groups are sure to challenge both initiatives in court, and the effort to rescind the protections Obama put in place under OSCLA could prove difficult to defend because a president has not reversed such a move in the past. But presidents have wide latitude to revise the Interior Department’s five-year leasing plan, and have done so in the past, so it is unclear how any challenge to that element of the order would fare in court.

[Who’s covering federal agencies]

Jacqueline Savitz, Oceana’s senior vice president for the United States, said in an email that the administration would soon find there is widespread opposition to renewed drilling efforts.

“Expanding offshore drilling into new areas like the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans would put vibrant ocean ecosystems at risk and be bad for business, threatening thriving coastal economies and lucrative industries, including tourism, recreation and fishing,” Savitz said.

“Business leaders along the Atlantic coast have been vocal in their opposition to offshore drilling, and the decades-long push to drill in the Arctic has put its unique and diverse ecosystem at risk, cost tens of billions of dollars and created significant controversy without profitable results.”

It remains unclear whether opening up the remote Chukchi and Beaufort Seas for leasing would attract any bids. After Shell spent more than $7 billion to lease and drill an uneconomic well, other major oil companies have dropped plans to drill in the region.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.b16409b7915d

China must need some more oil.

China Just Became The No.1 Buyer Of U.S. Crude Oil

It is starting to be pretty clear that trump has no intentions of living up to his con promises of removing DACA, all illegals and their anchor babies. It is a piddly weekly 100 or so of dangerous criminals - paleeze - is nothing scared save the profits of dirty, toxic, industries. trump has plenty of time for that. Couldn't stop the Australian deal of depraved muslims they wouldn't even let on their mainland. Oh he yelled at Turnbull & hung up - BIG DEAL,THEY ARE COMING HERE EVEN WITH CHILD MOLESTATION HAPPENING IN THEIR CAMP. trump ryan, kelly, tillerson, they don't have to live with the scum they are allowing into this country; it is a disgrace!

Wave the flag some more - we are not receiving any relief of the invasion of our country by illegals, refugees - no e-verify mandated, no rescinding of Wilberforce act - 250,000 central americans here on the dole & still coming in, million of illegals anchor babying, millions of muslim refugees, as nauseum - but trump and the big boys are counting their money, stocks they will be receiving by methods that put us in even more jeopardy.

That is why they let him in the wh - lucky for trump dirtball howard stern didn't release the tapes of trump on his show; he would not have been elected. The big boys are in action now - CANNOT TAKE IT $$$ WITH YOU TO HELL!

I know how it seems artist, but lets give it a little time. Keep the pressure on though, but don't give up yet.

Originally Posted by artist

It is starting to be pretty clear that trump has no intentions of living up to his con promises of removing DACA, all illegals and their anchor babies. It is a piddly weekly 100 or so of dangerous criminals - paleeze - is nothing scared save the profits of dirty, toxic, industries. trump has plenty of time for that. Couldn't stop the Australian deal of depraved muslims they wouldn't even let on their mainland. Oh he yelled at Turnbull & hung up - BIG DEAL,THEY ARE COMING HERE EVEN WITH CHILD MOLESTATION HAPPENING IN THEIR CAMP. trump ryan, kelly, tillerson, they don't have to live with the scum they are allowing into this country; it is a disgrace!

Wave the flag some more - we are not receiving any relief of the invasion of our country by illegals, refugees - no e-verify mandated, no rescinding of Wilberforce act - 250,000 central americans here on the dole & still coming in, million of illegals anchor babying, millions of muslim refugees, as nauseum - but trump and the big boys are counting their money, stocks they will be receiving by methods that put us in even more jeopardy.

That is why they let him in the wh - lucky for trump dirtball howard stern didn't release the tapes of trump on his show; he would not have been elected. The big boys are in action now - CANNOT TAKE IT $$$ WITH YOU TO HELL!

I still have my fingers crossed - even when he got so gung ho with the oil company - until I realize foreigners own so much of our energy industry. Was it to benefit this country or some other country.

It seems China is going to buy up the Permian Basin now.

And on a lighter note - Russia already owns Lone Star Beer - nothing is sacred, it seems.

Texas is gone - between the illegals and the selling off of our state - we are lost.

Again, I kept thinking things would be different - but with the bombing of Syria - it just sounds like the same song - second verse.