By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
Bidding for offshore oil
and gas leases could expand to more federal waters, including an area off the
coast of southern New England. (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
President Trump will
attempt to deliver on his promise to open vast areas of ocean to offshore
fossil-fuel extraction, including off the coast of New England and in
commercial fishing grounds such as Georges Bank.
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| Hey, what could go wrong? |
Trump made his intention
to open up the Eastern Seaboard, as well as the Arctic and Pacific oceans, to
drilling in an executive order signed last April, a day ahead of the People's
Climate March in Washington, D.C.
Department of Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke put that order into action Jan. 4, when he announced a plan to establish the largest
footprint ever for fossil-fuel extraction.
The East Coast has been
closed to offshore drilling since 1983.
The proposal creates new drilling regions covering prime fishing grounds such as Georges Bank, a shoal larger than the size of Massachusetts between Cape Cod and Newfoundland. The North Atlantic drilling region includes all federal waters, which begin 3 miles off the coast.
The proposal creates new drilling regions covering prime fishing grounds such as Georges Bank, a shoal larger than the size of Massachusetts between Cape Cod and Newfoundland. The North Atlantic drilling region includes all federal waters, which begin 3 miles off the coast.
Oil companies such as London-based BP have been lobbying to open these regions, as Trump has eased extraction safeguards and environmental rules for fossil-fuel companies. BP is responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, the worst offshore drilling accident in U.S. history.
During a press
conference, Zinke said he intends to “have the strongest energy policy and
become the strongest energy superpower.”
The five-year leasing
plan would replace President Obama's leasing proposal and open closed areas in
the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans to drilling. Obama protected the
largest offshore regions to drilling in the final weeks of his presidency. If
approved, Zinke’s plan would take effect in 2019 and run through 2024.
Public meetings on the proposal begin
Jan. 16. Providence hosts a hearing scheduled for Jan. 25 at the Marriott
hotel, 1 Orms St., from 3-7 p.m. Boston is scheduled to host a hearing Jan. 24,
and one is scheduled for Feb. 13 in Hartford. Public comments are being
accepted online.
Environmentalists,
tourism groups, and some Republicans are opposing this expansion of offshore
extraction and exploration of fossil fuels, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott,
a climate denier.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse,
D-R.I., made this comment after Trump’s announcement in April.
“The only thing this
order accomplishes is making a spectacle of putting dirty fossil fuel interests
over the fishing, tourism, and other job-creating industries that rely on our
oceans.
"There has never been commercial oil and gas production along the Northeast’s Atlantic coast and there never should be. If this administration tries, we will fight them tooth and nail.
"Along our southern Atlantic coast, even red state communities rose up against the Obama administration when it tried to green-light drilling; they are sure to do the same to President Trump. Our coastline and special places are too valuable — in Rhode Island and across America — to be sacrificed to fossil fuel company avarice."
"There has never been commercial oil and gas production along the Northeast’s Atlantic coast and there never should be. If this administration tries, we will fight them tooth and nail.
"Along our southern Atlantic coast, even red state communities rose up against the Obama administration when it tried to green-light drilling; they are sure to do the same to President Trump. Our coastline and special places are too valuable — in Rhode Island and across America — to be sacrificed to fossil fuel company avarice."
