The Trump administration is proposing to open new areas off the West Coast and in the Arctic to crude drilling as part of a draft blueprint released Thursday that would dramatically expand the sale of offshore oil and natural gas rights.
In all, the Interior Department is proposing as many as 34 offshore lease sales, including 21 off the coast of Alaska, six along the Pacific Coast and seven in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed the Gulf of America by President Donald Trump.
"The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America's offshore production," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America's offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come."
The proposal, which would replace the Biden-era plan that would hold just three auctions from 2024 to 2029, is just an initial step and is likely to be whittled down during several months of public comment and other reviews before it's finalized. Even before it was released, Trump administration officials opted to remove the sale of oil and gas rights along the East Coast, after a leaked version drew alarm from southeast Republicans opposed to drilling in the Atlantic.
Still, the extent of the proposal developed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management underscores Trump's pledge to expand domestic energy production. It includes lease sales in in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet and Chukchi Sea, as well as the for the first time in the high arctic, an area some 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of the Alaska coast that opponents say is especially environmentally fragile.
An index of oilfield contractors that includes major offshore drillers such as Transocean Ltd. was down 2.6% at 2:54 pm in New York, extending the 12-month decline to 12%. Drilling stocks have been under pressure as a looming worldwide oversupply of crude weighs on oil prices.
Industry advocates said the broad scope of the proposal is important because the plan is likely to shrink as it heads toward finalization.
"This a large, cast-a-wide-net step in the process," said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. "This is not the final step and it's important to keep as much on the table as possible."
The plan is certain to be challenged by environmental groups and West Coast lawmakers. California Governor Gavin Newsom has already declared the plan to sell new oil drilling rights off the West Coast "dead on arrival."
"The last thing America needs now is a massive expansion of offshore drilling that could shut down our shores with catastrophic oil spills," said Joseph Gordon, a campaign director at the environmental group Oceana. "This dangerous proposal to sell off millions of acres of our oceans is a betrayal of the bipartisan voices - including US lawmakers, business leaders, and the people who live along the coasts - who oppose more offshore drilling."
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