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Livable Planet

The Trump Administration Just Gave States Free Reign for Offshore Drilling, But You Can Fight Back

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke plans to open up almost all of the U.S. coast to offshore oil drilling—more than 90 percent of the continental shelf.
Image va Flickr.

Tybee Island is a small, charming coastal community near Savannah, Georgia. Spanning a little more than three square miles, the barrier island still has a functioning lighthouse that was built in the 18th century. On a clear summer day, Tybee’s views of the Atlantic Ocean are pristine. But that could all change if the Trump administration has its way. Instead of a smooth, brilliantly painted horizon, those ocean views could one day potentially be dotted with oil rigs.

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On January 4, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released a draft of the proposed plan to open up almost all of the U.S. coast to offshore oil drilling—more than 90 percent of the continental shelf (that is, the underwater land that extends offshore) would be up for the consideration of future exploration and development, including areas in the Gulf of Mexico and the Alaska, Pacific, and Atlantic regions.

“They are opting for less safety, more risk, and more drilling.”

Their goal, Zinke said in a statement, is to “strike the right balance to protect our coasts and people while still powering America and achieving American Energy Dominance."

But Alexandra Adams, legislative director for the Nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told VICE Impact that it’s “the most extreme plan we’ve ever seen. It’s shocking.”

Environmental advocates fear that allowing the oil industry pretty much free reign in continental waters would increase the likelihood of an oil spill, not unlike the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico. If a similar disaster happened in the Atlantic, the beaches from Savannah to Boston, not to mention the seafood industry, the jobs that come with it, and marine life, would be impacted.


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Adams says while the administration is working to expand offshore drilling, it’s also in the process of rolling back the safety regulations that were put in place to prevent another BP spill. In fact, the Department of Interior just suspended an important study being conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aimed to make offshore drilling platforms safer.

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“They are opting for less safety, more risk, and more drilling,” Adams says. “It’s basically a recipe for disaster.”

So far, governors, lawmakers, businesses, and others on both sides of the political aisle have expressed opposition to Trump’s proposed drilling expansion.

Even if the chances of such a catastrophic event are slim, there’s also the routine pollution that comes along with drilling to be concerned about. Another concern, Jennette Gayer, the director of Environment Georgia, told VICE Impact, is infrastructure. “Whether it’s pipelines or refining facilities or just facilities onshore that can deal with the oil that’s being drilled offshore, you would need to build that somewhere,” she says.

Offshore drilling expansion also squeezes out the opportunity to invest in more renewable energy sources, Gayer says. “There are conversations in [Georgia] about what offshore wind would look like, and I can guarantee if you’ve got 100 miles of coastline, there are only a couple of places where it’d be easy to build windmills. If you’re instead building offshore oil rigs, you’re taking some of the options off the table for the clean energy future that Environment Georgia and a lot of other people are pushing for.”

So far, governors, lawmakers, businesses, and others on both sides of the political aisle have expressed opposition to Trump’s proposed drilling expansion. Earlier this month, lawmakers in the New England area introduced legislation to bar drilling along their coast, while Florida Gov. Rick Scott actually convinced Secretary Zinke to exempt his state from being considered for new oil or gas platforms. (Though it remains to be seen whether that’ll actually happen or not.)

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Currently, the government is taking public comments on the proposed draft plan for 60 days before preparing a proposed plan and finally a proposed final plan, both of which will also be available for comment. It’s a five-year process that’s supposed to give people enough time to weigh in, but Adams believes the government will try to move quickly.

"This has been happening for a long time. If you look at all of the communities along the Atlantic coast, for example, who organized and activated when the last administration was looking at potential drilling off their coast, that works continues."

“They’ve moved quickly on all of this,” she says. “Their priority is getting the oil industry into these areas as fast as possible.”

It’s not the first time in recent years that the federal government has considered opening up the waters. Thanks to the outpouring of opposition on all levels, however, the Obama administration moved to protect large portions of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans in December 2016. Only four months later, President Trump began the process to roll back those protections with an executive order.

Anyone who cares about the country’s coast needs to speak up in protest of this plan, Adams says. “This has been happening for a long time. If you look at all of the communities along the Atlantic coast, for example, who organized and activated when the last administration was looking at potential drilling off their coast, that works continues. It’s a bit of a long game, but all of the work that everyone puts in to defending their communities from this kind of assault and protecting our oceans, it’s cumulative.”

“It does feel like this will be something to engage in for a while,” she continues, “but every step of it is important. It all builds on the momentum of this overall resounding statement from our states and communities to say no, we don’t want this.”

Let the federal government know you do not support the expansion of offshore drilling by submitting a public comment via NRDC’s website . You can also attend one of the 23 public hearings the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is holding across the country if you’d like to ask questions or submit your comment in person.