The Trump administration plans to propose opening federal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to offshore drilling, two people familiar with the plan said Wednesday, a move that is likely to antagonize coastal states governors — and make a direct jab at California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Full details of the plan were not yet known, but a push to bring drilling rigs to untouched sections of the U.S. coastline brought bipartisan opposition when Trump tried to carry out a similar plan during his first administration.
The proposal would be part of the Interior Department’s upcoming five-year plan on offshore oil lease sales, said the people who were granted anonymity because the plan wasn’t yet public.
The administration is expected to offer acres off the southern coast of California and “at least a small sliver” of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, one of the people said. It was unclear if that would include waters off of Florida, where elected leaders of both parties have opposed drilling along their shoreline for decades because of the risk to the state’s tourism-based economy. Interior’s plan, a framework used to schedule offshore lease sales in federal waters for a five-year period, could change by the time the initial proposal becomes a finished product, this person said.
Spokespeople for the Interior Department and White House did not immediately reply to questions. The Houston Chronicle earlier reported the plan to open the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to drilling, citing a leaked document.
No drilling takes place now off the Atlantic Coast, though companies like Exxon Mobil had explored that option in the past. Oil production in the Pacific Ocean has declined for decades amid tighter California regulations that make it difficult to transport the oil from federal waters to the state’s coastline.
But even if the business case is relatively small, a bigger motive may be Trump forcing Newsom to take a stand on the issue, a third industry executive familiar with the expected plan’s outline said. Newsom, who had for years tightened state regulations on drilling, has more recently tried to moderate his position on fossil fuel production as he has increased his profile as a liberal foil to Trump.
“There’s an interesting dynamic of fighting Gavin Newsom in California,” this person said. “Who wouldn’t want that?”
Newsom’s office did not immediately reply to questions.
State officials are in litigation against an oil company, Sable Offshore Oil Corp., that has been trying to restart production in federal waters off Southern California. The company said last month that it would ask Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council for permission to transport its products using ships instead of pipelines.
The Interior Department during the first Trump administration originally planned to put all federal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific on the table for drilling. That proposal ultimately failed, however, a victim of former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s attempt to preemptively exempt federal waters off the Florida coast from offshore oil lease sales before the department had concluded a necessary review.
Allowing drilling rigs into federal deep waters would come as Trump has spent the better part of this year trying to cancel offshore wind projects, including one that was nearly complete. The Trump administration has alleged the projects could harm whales.
Environmental groups blasted any attempt to open up more waters for oil drilling.
Joseph Gordon, campaign director of ocean conservation group Oceana, called the planned expansion “an oil spill nightmare.”
“Our coastal communities depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life,” Gordon said in a statement. “If this is the plan, the Trump administration must go back to the drawing board. There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”
“The federal government’s offshore oil drilling plan will damage coastlines and communities, while threatening coastal recreation and tourism industries that contribute billions of dollars to our nation’s economy”, said Pete Stauffer, ocean protection manager of the Surfrider Foundation. “New drilling will also increase the likelihood of yet another destructive oil spill off our coasts.”
Debra Kahn contributed to this report.
