By
The Federalist Papers Project
An expected executive order from President Trump will reopen new offshore drilling initiatives, opening sales of oil and natural gas rights offshore.
Obama’s block on new sales for rights in Arctic and Atlantic waters will take a major blow with the new order.
Bloomberg reports:
The offshore drilling directive is set to be issued soon, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told an industry conference in Washington on Thursday, according to three attendees who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a session closed to the press. Zinke did not provide specific details on the executive order during his presentation to the National Ocean Industries Association.
The coming order is set to push the Interior Department to schedule sales of new offshore oil and natural gas rights in U.S. Atlantic and Arctic waters, amending a five-year Obama administration leasing plan that left out auctions there, according to an industry representative who has discussed it with officials.
The order is also expected to begin the process of revoking former President Barack Obama’s decision to indefinitely withdraw most U.S. Arctic waters and some Atlantic Ocean acreage from future leasing. Environmentalists say it would be unprecedented for any president to rescind such a designation, and the reversal would almost certainly be challenged in court.
The order would also force the Interior Department to rework their five year plan for new offshore leasing.
Fully regaining access to these domestic resources is expected by some economists to create a million jobs in the next year.
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Read More:
Washington Examiner: Trump to lift Obama’s bans on offshore drilling
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Young Conservatives reports:
This decision will be celebrated by those that have long touted the potential benefits of offshore drilling.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stated in March, that “opening more federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling” was a pillar of Trump’s plan to make the United States “energy independent.”
[…] Heritage and others also state that there is an environmental benefit to offshore drilling in “the reduction of oil and gas seepage due to decreases in subsea oil-reservoir pressure.”
However, progressive environmentalists argue that offshore drilling contributes to climate change.
President Trump’s order would certainly make good on his promise to make America great again, but progressives would be irritated by its success, particularly those who believe that open off shore leasing will increase global warming.
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