Advocates of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico are hailing President Donald Trump for signing an executive order today that instructs the Department of Interior to review a plan that dictates which federal locations are open to offshore drilling and oil exploration.
The Associated Press reports the order also aims to reverse part of a December effort by former President Barack Obama’s administration to deem the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic as indefinitely off limits to oil and gas leasing.
Gulf Economic Survival Team Executive Director Lori LeBlanc called the move a “positive first step” for the oil and gas industry toward job creation and boosting the national economy.
“Although Trump’s executive order is a review, we are hopeful it will proceed in uplifting predecessor Barack Obama’s permanent ban on new oil and gas drilling in federal waters,” LeBlanc says. “With approximately 94% of our nation’s OCS off limits to offshore production, expanding offshore oil and gas exploration provides tremendous opportunities for creating good-paying jobs and to meet America’s ever-growing energy needs with American energy.”
Today’s executive action is part of Trump’s promise to unleash the nation’s energy reserves in an effort to reduce oil imports and spur jobs, regardless of fierce opposition from environmental activists who say offshore drilling harms whales, walruses and other wildlife and exacerbates global warming.
“This executive order starts the process of opening offshore areas to job-creating energy exploration,” Trump said during a White House signing ceremony.
