By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor
Interior Secretary for the United States, Ryan Zinke, has proposed a new offshore drilling plan aimed at opening more areas for oil explorations.
The proposal comes nine months after President Donald Trump singed an executive order to open areas that are currently protected by the five-year oil and gas leasing program finalized by the Obama administration in November of 2016.
In response to the plan, Louisiana’s United States Congressman, Mike Johnson, released the following statement.
“The Trump administration’s decision to allow enhanced exploration, leasing and development within the Outer Continental Shelf, previously closed to such activities, prioritizes home-grown energy production,” said Congressman Johnson. “And puts the United States one step closer to achieving energy dominance. I look forward to the many benefits Louisiana and other coastal states will see from this all-of-the-above energy strategy.”
According to the Huffington Post, Trump’s order in April “instructed the Interior Department to review the current five-year oil and gas leasing program,” and “to write new rules for offshore oil an gas drilling under the guise of an ‘America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.”
The draft plan released last Thursday “includes 25 of 26 offshore planning areas and makes available for lease roughly 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.”
According to the Huff Post, Zink told reporters on Thursday that “the administration has identified 47 potential lease sales, including 19 off the coast of Alaska and 12 in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Zinke said, “This is the largest number of lease sales ever proposed.”
The interior secretary then added, “This is a clear difference between energy weakness and energy dominance, and under President Trump, we are going to have the strongest energy policy and become the strongest energy superpower. We certainly have the assets to do that.
If the proposed plan is approved, it will be in effect from 2019 to 2024, and will replace the current program, which was set to run through 2022.