Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Secretary of Interior, today released the Trump administration draft plan to open up nearly all U.S. offshore waters to oil drilling.
At a time when we urgently need to put the brakes on the development of fossil fuel and transition to clean and renewable energy, President Donald Trump aims to expand offshore drilling.
The plan for nationwide offshore oil and gas leases would significantly expand offshore drilling by offering new leases in waters off Alaska, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. If approved, the plan “would open up oceans that have largely been off limits to oil drilling, including areas in the Arctic and Atlantic where Trump is trying to revoke permanent protections,” according to the Center for Biological Diversy.
“The proposal includes seven lease sales off the Pacific, including off all of California, Washington and Oregon where new leasing is opposed by West Coast governors, numerous coastal communities and has not occurred since 1984. Areas in the Atlantic are on the table despite broad opposition of local communities on the East Coast,” the Center said in a news release.
Zinke announced the next step for what he claimed as “responsibly developing” the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (National OCS Program) for 2019-2024, which proposes to make over 90 percent of the total OCS acreage and more than 98 percent of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to consider for future exploration and development.
“By comparison, the current program puts 94 percent of the OCS off limits. In addition, the program proposes the largest number of lease sales in U.S. history,” according to Zinke.
“Responsibly developing our energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in a safe and well-regulated way is important to our economy and energy security, and it provides billions of dollars to fund the conservation of our coastlines, public lands and parks,” said Secretary Zinke in a news release. “Today's announcement lays out the options that are on the table and starts a lengthy and robust public comment period. Just like with mining, not all areas are appropriate for offshore drilling, and we will take that into consideration in the coming weeks. The important thing is we strike the right balance to protect our coasts and people while still powering America and achieving American Energy Dominance"
Representatives of fishing, Indigenous, consumer, environmental and anti-corporate organizations blasted the plan for posing immense harm to the oceans, coastal communities and the efforts by nations throughout the world to move off fossil fuels.
"Today's announcement confirms what fishermen have known for months: the Trump Administration wants to put fish and fisheries at significant risk while lining the pockets of their oil industry co-conspirators,” said Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) executive director Noah Oppenheim in a statement. “Meanwhile, more frequent oil spills and more intense ocean acidification and warming are guaranteed to ensue. The draft program, which is filled with obvious factual errors and omissions, could cost fishermen hundreds of millions of dollars if it is implemented. West Coast fishermen will not stand for oil and gas exploration and exploitation in our ocean."
“Today, the Trump administration released its plan to open up huge swathes of protected ocean areas to drilling,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch in a statement. “This is not only bad news for the oceans and our coastal communities—it’s a disaster for the climate. At a time when we need to put the brakes on fossil fuel development, Trump continues to double down on dirty energy. What’s more, he aims to repeal rules enacted after the Deepwater Horizon explosion to prevent future drilling accidents. Opening up our oceans to deregulated drilling is dangerous on so many levels.”
“The science shows that we must move off fossil fuels to avert climate catastrophe, and we are already feeling the effects of a warming planet. The next 10 years will be critical. Fortunately, we have leaders in Congress and at the state level who are taking the climate threat seriously, committing to a true clean energy by 2035, even as the Trump administration continues to prioritize fossil fuel industry profits,” concluded Hauter.
An analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity said burning the fossil fuels in the proposed leases would contribute 49.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide pollution, the equivalent of the emissions from 10.6 billion cars driven for a year, deepening the climate crisis. Opening up new regions to offshore drilling and spilling could also harm endangered species that have recently been in decline, including southern resident killer whales, Pacific Coast Chinook salmon and steelhead, North Atlantic right whales and polar bears.
“Trump’s trying to turn our oceans into oilfields. His reckless plan would expose more wildlife and coastal communities to devastating oil spills,” said Kristen Monsell, ocean program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It would also increase our dependence on dirty energy. People from coast to coast must resist this shortsighted, climate-wrecking giveaway to the oil industry.”
Monsell said the proposed plan would replace Obama’s 2017-2022 offshore oil and gas program that included 10 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Cook Inlet. The Trump administration’s draft proposed plan includes an astounding 47 lease sales from 2019-2024, up from 11 in the current plan. This draft will be subject to a 60-day public comment period before the next draft of the plan is released.
“The draft proposal would offer 19 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including one Arctic Ocean lease sale every year, nine lease sales off the Atlantic coast, and 12 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, including one in the Eastern Gulf that is under a Congressional moratorium from new leasing until 2022,” said Monsell.
“The leases off Alaska include areas that Obama permanently protected from new oil and gas leasing because of their sensitive wildlife and irreplaceable cultural values for Alaska Natives. Trump’s April 28 order attempted to reverse those permanent protections, but the Center and other groups challenged that order with a lawsuit on May 3. That lawsuit is pending in federal court in Alaska,” she explained.
“Offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous, and many coastal communities want no part of it. Letting the oil industry loose in our oceans will mean more deadly disasters like the Deepwater Horizon. And when those big oil spills happen in the Arctic, they’ll be impossible to clean up,” Monsell said. “This appalling plan should be a call to action for everyone who wants to move past the dirty energy and politics of the past,” Monsell concluded.
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