President Trump on Friday will begin to reverse his predecessor’s limits on new offshore drilling, potentially opening up vast new areas in the Outer Continental Shelf for oil-and-gas exploration.
White House officials said Mr. Trump will sign an executive order directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review all aspects of the nation’s offshore drilling regulations.
As part of that review, Mr. Zinke will examine President Obama’s five-year ban on any new offshore leases, which would have lasted through 2022, and will make recommendations on whether to open up new areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans to drilling, as well as new waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
The order also will temporarily prohibit the designation of any new marine monuments off U.S. shores, ending an Obama-era practice of using the century-old Antiquities Act to protect waters from drilling.
In justifying the new policy — which came under immediate, scathing attacks from environmentalists and Democrats on Capitol Hill — Mr. Zinke told reporters Thursday night that federal revenue from offshore drilling has dropped from $18 billion in 2008 to just $2.8 billion in 2016.
Some of that drop can be attributed to drops in the price of oil, but the Trump administration argues much of it is due to federal regulation.
Mr. Zinke said there are both economic and environmental benefits to expanding offshore drilling, and he rejected outright the notion that the U.S. should curb energy exploration solely out of concern for the environment.
“It is better to produce energy here under reasonable regulations than to have it be produced overseas with no regulations,” he said. “Environmentally, I can tell you we have the highest standards in the world, and if you doubt that, I invite you to visit some of the energy opportunities in the Middle East and Africa, which are catastrophes as far as the environment is concerned.”
The executive order does not immediately open up new areas for drilling, nor does it have any impact on existing oil-and-gas company leases off of U.S. shores.
Just wait for the usial junk mail from the varipus eco-freaks(GREENPEACE(NRDC,SIERRA CLUB,AUDUBON SOCIETY Greenpeace Etc)and wait for hollywood idiots like Robert Redford to to appear in some ads for the NRDC or Sierra Club urging you to send them a cool $500 for their SAVE THE COASTS plans as they most always do when their money pits are running dry