Despite the opposition of communities across North Carolina and the region, the Trump administration today issued a proposed five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing that would vastly expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic and other oceans.
The Trump administration’s plan announced today would override key provisions of the five-year plan released under President Obama’s administration, which removed the entire Atlantic and Arctic from leasing. In addition to the Atlantic, the Trump administration plan would also radically expand offshore drilling in new areas of the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Arctic.
The Trump plan, which puts the Atlantic coast on the auction block for the first time since 1983, defies Governor Cooper’s specific request to exclude North Carolina’s coast from the plan and flies in the face of objections from North Carolinians who would be most impacted by drilling. Twenty-eight North Carolina communities have passed resolutions opposing offshore oil and gas drilling.
Today’s announcement follows on news last week that the Trump administration will seek to repeal safety measures put into place following the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, which killed 11 people and devastated coastal economies and environments in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Today’s action by the Trump administration disregards the objections and concerns voiced by thousands of North Carolinians who will be most harmed in the event of oil spills, explosions, fires or other disasters that could arise from oil and gas drilling,” Erin Carey, the NC Sierra Club’s coastal programs coordinator, said.
“Our fragile marine ecosystems, endangered species, and tourism and fishing economies would suffer tremendous damage in the event of a spill,” Carey said. “Worse, the President has also acted to remove regulatory safety measures already in place to reduce the potential for deadly accidents and disastrous spills.
“The Atlantic coast, including North Carolina, was removed from the five-year plan due to environmental concerns, strong local opposition, and conflicts with commercial and military ocean uses, none of which have changed in the last 12 months. If anything, objections from a wide range of bipartisan coastal leaders and the military have intensified in 2017.
“We believe concerned North Carolinians and residents of other mid-Atlantic states will stand united in a wall of opposition to the Trump administration’s plan.”