President Trump today issued an executive order cancelling several of President Obama's outer continental shelf land withdrawals from oil and gas leasing. Today's order also requires a review of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's outer continental shelf five-year lease sale plan and a review of the economic impacts of development restrictions associated with marine national monuments.
In Alaska, the order cancels the withdrawal of the Chukchi Sea and large areas of the Beaufort Sea from oil and gas leasing. The order also revokes the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience area that Obama had implemented.
Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to consider revising its lease sale program to include at least one sale per year in each of the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea and the Cook Inlet.
Trump has also ordered a reconsideration by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement of regulations introduced by the Obama for offshore oil drilling safety, including the Arctic drilling rule. Other regulations to be reconsidered include a proposed offshore air quality rule. The president also wants expedited consideration of applications for the authorization of incidental harassment to marine mammals during offshore operations, and a review of NOAA's guidance for assessing the impacts of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals.
- ALAN BAILEY
See story in the May 7 issue, available online Friday, May 5, at www.PetroleumNews.com
