WASHINGTON – The Trump administration unveiled a controversial plan Thursday to permit drilling in all U.S. waters, including protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas exploration is opposed by governors from New Jersey to Florida, nearly a dozen attorneys general, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers and the Defense Department.
More than 3 billion barrels of oil is recoverable on the outer continental shelf, along with more than 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the Interior Department, which announced the plan. States stand to gain royalties from extraction of these natural resources, and drilling could create hundreds of jobs.
But the plan faces a wave of bipartisan state opposition, led in part by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, who has said: "I'm not in favor of offshore drilling." A catastrophe on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak in 2010 would be disastrous for one of the state's most precious resources, the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, R, is opposed out of concern over drilling's impact on the state's natural resources. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired off a letter to the Interior agency that issues permits saying the state "strongly opposes any waters off our coastline being considered for inclusion in this leasing program," citing its $44 billion beach tourism industry that creates more than 300,000 jobs.
The Democratic governors of North Carolina and Delaware are also opposed. Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, where beach tourism on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts generates nearly $50 billion and a half million jobs annually, according to a Florida Atlantic University report, said Thursday that he adamantly opposes drilling off the state's coast and requested a meeting with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
The Obama administration considered a five-year plan to permit drilling in the southern Atlantic between Virginia and Georgia but abandoned in March 2016 because of concerns raised by the Navy, which conducts military exercises in a vast area of the ocean near those states. A barrage of letters and comments from coastal communities opposed to the plan also played a role.
President Trump has extolled oil and gas exploration as part of an energy dominance agenda. The administration made history last month with its proposal to open nearly 77 million more acres in the Gulf of Mexico to companies wanting to purchase federal oil and gas leases, the largest offering in U.S. history.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore leasing, promised that the environment would be protected. "American energy production can be competitive while remaining safe and environmentally sound," Vincent DeVito, Interior's counselor for energy policy, said at the time. "People need jobs, the Gulf Coast states need revenue, and Americans do not want to be dependent on foreign oil."
On Thursday, the Interior Department suspended a study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the safety of offshore oil and gas drilling platforms.
Offshore drilling caused one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent spill of 215 million gallons of crude into the Gulf that fouled beaches from Louisiana to Florida. The effects of the spill are still being felt more than seven years later.
Hydrocarbons linked to the spill were detected in 90 percent of pelican eggs more than 1,000 miles away in Minnesota, scientists say. Dolphins living in Barataria, Louisiana, have experienced mortality rates 8 percent higher than dolphin populations elsewhere, and their reproduction success dropped 63 percent. The well's owner, British Petroleum, has paid penalties in excess of $61 billion as of July 2016.
Oceana, a non-profit conservation group that monitors fisheries and pollution, called the proposal "a recipe for disaster." Citing the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, Diane Hoskins, the group's campaign director, said, "This radical offshore drilling free-for-all is a clear example of politics over people, ignoring widespread local and state opposition."