Trump Preps Action to Unleash Offshore Energy

Wrapping up a flurry of activity as he nears the symbolic 100-day mark, President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday directing a review of the nation’s five-year plan for offshore energy development.

Under former President Barack Obama, revenue from offshore oil and gas leases dropped from about $18 billion in 2008 to $2.8 billion last year. Some of that drop is due to the price of oil, but that does not explain the entire decline, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said.

“For those of you who follow my budget, when you have a drop of $15 billion, and you have a $12.5 billion shortfall in infrastructure and parks, that’s the scale of what we’ve dropped.”

“For those of you who follow my budget, when you have a drop of $15 billion, and you have a $12.5 billion shortfall in infrastructure and parks, that’s the scale of what we’ve dropped,” said Zinke, who briefed reporters Thursday.

Zinke said the executive order also would prohibit the commerce secretary from designating new or expanded marine monuments or sanctuaries and would review designations made during the past 10 years.

“This order will cement our nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security for the benefit of the American people without removing any of the stringent environmental safeguards that are currently in place,” he said.

Trump will sign the offshore-energy executive order just two days after directing Zinke to review as many as 40 land-based national monuments created during the past 21 years to determine if prior presidents exceeded their authority.

The immediate impact of Friday’s order will be limited. Zinke said the development plan is “enormously complex” and added that the review would take a couple of years. The process would include public hearings, giving people an opportunity to weigh in for or against various aspects of the plan.

The long-term potential is significant, however, since the U.S. has vast reserves of oil and gas buried beneath the ocean. Zinke said the department oversees 1.7 billion acres on the outer continental shelf, which contains an estimated 90 billion barrels undiscovered, recoverable crude oil and 327 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas. That represents about 18 percent of the country’s crude oil supply, and 4 percent of its natural gas.

The Gulf of Mexico, with has about 160 million acres under U.S. control, has an estimated 48.5 billion barrels of oil and 142 trillion cubic feet of gas.

“Today, about 94 percent of our outer continental shelf is off-limits for possible development of any type,” Zinke said.

The secretary said just 16 million acres out of 1.7 billion acres in the outer continental shelf are under lease. About 97 percent of current leases are in the Gulf of Mexico.

Zinke said Trump’s January executive order targeting regulations and a March order promoting energy development put America on track for energy independence.

“It is better to produce energy here under reasonable regulations than have it be produced overseas with no regulations,” he said. “Environmentally, I can tell you, we have the highest standards in the world. And if you doubt that, I invite you to visit some of the energy opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.”

Zinke said energy production also is a job-creator. He said 7 million jobs are tied to power.

“And if we manufacture in this country, which we should and we will, you need reliable, abundant and affordable energy to be competitive,” he said.

[lz_related_box id=”787783″]

Zinke also touted the national security benefits of producing as much energy domestically as possible.

“It is better to produce energy here than being held hostage by foreign entities,” he said.

Zinke said the review process would look for ways to streamline the regulatory process without sacrificing safety and environmental integrity. He declined to say how much additional offshore energy production the administration would like to see.

“There’s no set goal,” he said. “But I can say up front, if there are areas that are accessible, that have the resources, that we walk through the process, that local communities are for it, that industry is for it, then that would be a recommendation to include in the next five-year plan,” he said.