Trump to order review of offshore drilling options

WASHINGTON, DC, April 28, 2017 – US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today that could open up more offshore oil and gas exploration, according to information released by the White House on Thursday.

The America First Offshore Energy Executive Order will instruct the Department of the Interior to review which federal waters could be opened for oil and gas development, including areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans declared off-limits by previous presidents.

In December 2016, in the interest of protecting the environment, former President Barack Obama used an obscure 1950s piece of legislation to declare parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic sections of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas permanently off-limits to oil and gas development. Trump’s legal authority to reverse the decision is unclear and will likely be a matter presented to the courts to decide.

Democrats and environmentalists in opposition to the announcement expressed concerns about the threat of Atlantic and Pacific drilling to coastal economies centered around fishing and tourism. However, the Trump administration regards boosting the domestic energy supply as central to the nation’s security and economic interests.

In speaking with reporters, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said, “It is better to produce energy here than be held hostage by foreign entities.” Zinke also said that his department will consult with local communities and take their concerns into consideration before making any decisions.

President Trump would like a review and revision of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s next five-year development plan for the Outer Continental Shelf, which is set to begin in August 2017. The new programme, which was set up by the Obama administration, will run until 2022 and feature acreage in all unleased and unprotected federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico twice per year, along with one sale in the Cook Inlet of Alaska planned for 2021.

No new leases have been offered in the Atlantic or Pacific in recent decades. More than 97% of the existing federal offshore leases are located in the Gulf of Mexico, with the remaining being off the coasts of California and Alaska.

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