A deep dive into Trump’s undersea energy order

The order begins the process of repealing a number of rules and regulations issued by former President Barack Obama, which Trump view as a barrier to jobs and economic growth by restricting energy development, in addition to revising Obama’s five-year leasing plan. The revision is expected to change Obama’s decision not to include Atlantic and Arctic drilling in the plan, which started in January.

The order also establishes Trump’s America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, which reads: “It shall be the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, in order to maintain the nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people, while ensuring that any such activity is safe and environmentally responsible.

Here is a look at four parts of the executive action that may have been overlooked when it was announced:

• The order targets a number of regulations that the oil and gas industry had opposed as duplicative and unnecessary under the Obama administration. The order starts the process to repeal the regulations, some of which were in response to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest domestic spill in history.

The order begins reconsideration of: The Well Control Rule, which covers regulations for putting in place offshore drilling spill prevention systems, called blow-out preventers, to reduce the risk of catastrophic spills at sea. The oil and natural gas industry has argued that since the BP oil spill, the industry has initiated its own safety standards that are much better suited to meet the safety challenges faced by the industry than what the government has imposed. The industry said the rule would be duplicative and unnecessarily expensive; the Proposed Offshore Air Rule to control air emissions from offshore drilling platforms. The Interior Department is to “consider whether the proposed rule and any related rules and guidance, should be revised or withdrawn;” and the Offshore Arctic Drilling Rule, covering the safety measures required to drill in the Arctic. The industry said the rule was much too stringent to be practical. The order directs the Interior Department to review the rule, and, “if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable and consistent with law, publish for notice and comment a proposed rule suspending, revising, or rescinding this rule.”

• Second, the order takes a direct whack at Obama’s climate change agenda by revoking Executive Order 13754 on Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience, “to further streamline existing regulatory authorities.” The Obama order was directed at conserving the Arctic region’s natural resources important to the people of the region, including protections for polar bears.

• Third, it restricts any marine monuments from being designated, unless there is a full accounting of how the designations would affect offshore energy and mining.

Offshore energy development, under the order, includes offshore wind turbines, which might be a surprise to some. The full host of energy resources included in the review are wind, oil, natural gas and methane hydrates, “and any other sources that the secretary of commerce deems appropriate and the potential impact the proposed designation or expansion will have on the development of those resources.” The secretary of the interior is expected to provide an accounting for the effects within 60 days of receiving a notification of intent to propose a National Marine Sanctuary designation or expansion from the Secretary of Commerce.

President Obama initiated some of the largest marine monuments and sanctuaries in the history of the Antiquities Act, which provides the president with the authority to designate new, or expand, sanctuaries and monuments.

• Fourth, the secretary of commerce, in consultation with the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Interior, shall conduct a review of all designations and expansions of marine sanctuaries and monuments under the Antiquities Act over the past decade. That places Obama’s decisions directly in the crosshairs.

The report will be delivered to the White House in 180 days, providing recommendations based on the costs of managing the newly designated areas; how well previous administrations discussed the proposed changes with states and tribal governments before making the decisions; and finally, the “opportunity costs associated with potential energy and mineral exploration and production.”