In yet another one of Trump’s schemes to reverse an Obama-era policy, he now plans to expand offshore oil drilling for companies in US Atlantic and Arctic waters. These areas were previously closed to oil companies thanks to legislation put in place by the Obama administration that prevented drilling. However, Trump has plans to sign an executive order that would reverse the hard work of the Obama administration and put our environment at even greater risk.

What Is Trump up To?

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has revealed that Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that would reverse restrictions on offshore drilling put in place by the Obama administration. The order would allow the Interior Department to begin selling offshore oil and natural gas rights in previously restricted areas of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. These areas were left out of the sales for the last five years thanks to President Obama.

The majority of US offshore oil drilling companies are basing their drilling efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Companies like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Statoil would benefit greatly from access to new offshore drilling sites. The US Arctic waters are estimated to hold 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. However, the high costs of exploration and limited infrastructure in the region have made drilling in these waters difficult. But the Beaufort Sea, an area of the Arctic that hugs Alaska’s coastline making drilling easier, has become of great interest to oil companies.

How Did Obama Work to Prevent Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic?

The Obama administration restricted drilling leases on approximately 125 million acres in the Arctic and four million in the Atlantic. They had considered putting 104 million acres of the Atlantic, Chuckchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea up for lease but ultimately decided to keep them off the market. Trump is hoping to change all of that. But unlike other Obama-era policies that Trump has carelessly tossed aside, this restriction cannot be undone by a president alone.

Will Trump Get Away with It?

Thanks to an obscure 1953 law, Obama’s restriction on offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic is partially protected from Trump and his administration. The president alone cannot reverse the designation, meaning it will take more than a signed executive order for Trump to re-open drilling in these protected areas.

Niel Lawrence, the Alaska director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained, “The administration can stare all day at the statute Obama used to protect large parts of the Arctic and Atlantic, but they won’t find a syllable allowing Trump to revoke those protections. Neither will the courts. It’s hard to imagine riskier, more expensive or time-consuming places to look for oil. It would be an extraordinary misuse of public dollars and agency resources to try to open them up now.”