President Trump’s extensive offshore drilling proposal rolls back the Obama administration’s energy policy and then some.
The offshore drilling plan announced by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spans from the East to West coasts including areas where drilling was banned for decades.
The Daily Mail reports:
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to vastly expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans with a plan that would open up federal waters off the California coast for the first time in more than three decades.
The new five-year drilling plan also could open new areas of oil and gas exploration in areas off the East Coast from Georgia to Maine, where drilling has been blocked for decades.
Zinke highlights the plan would “boost jobs and economic security.”
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the plan Thursday, saying that responsible development of offshore energy resources would boost jobs and economic security while providing billions of dollars to fund conservation along U.S. coastlines.
Zinke also points out the proposed offshore drilling plan would make the U.S. an “energy superpower.”
Not everyone is on board with President Trump’s energy proposal.
A coalition of environmental groups opposes President Trump’s offshore drilling proposal.
A coalition of more than 60 environmental groups denounced the plan, saying in a joint statement that it would impose ‘severe and unacceptable harm’ to America’s oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life.
‘These ocean waters are not President Trump’s personal playground. They belong to all Americans and the public wants them preserved and protected, not sold off to multinational oil companies,’ read the statement, which was signed by leaders of the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups.
Governor Rick Scott (R-FL) and various state officials also expressed their disapproval of Trump’s offshore drilling proposal.
The Washington Times reports:
“I have already asked to immediately meet with Secretary Zinke to discuss the concerns I have with this plan and the crucial need to remove Florida from consideration,” he said, as quoted by several Florida media outlets.
State officials in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, California and elsewhere have raised objections to oil exploration off their coasts, setting up a potential clash between the White House and state governments.
