CONSERVATION GROUPS SUE FEDS TO PROTECT COAST FROM OFFSHORE DRILLING
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By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service
February 25, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) - A coalition of environmental groups is suing the Trump administration to reinstate protections against new offshore drilling.
President Donald Trump revoked a Biden-era order to withdraw from future drilling 625 million acres of ocean off the Pacific, Eastern Gulf, Atlantic and Alaska coasts.
Devorah Ancel, Environmental Law Program senior attorney for the Sierra Club, said only Congress can revoke protections made by presidents under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
"President Trump revoked Biden's protective withdrawals," Ancel noted. "The law doesn't allow presidents to revoke or cancel withdrawals of previous presidents. Trump's action is illegal under the statute and also violates the Constitution."
Trump claimed more waters should be open for drilling in order to ensure U.S. energy independence. Advocates countered the protections would not affect energy security because much of the Gulf of Mexico is still open to drilling and the U.S. is the largest oil producer in the world. And they said expansion of offshore drilling is too big a threat to the marine ecosystem, and to multibillion-dollar coastal economies.
Joseph Gordon, campaign director for climate and energy for the nonprofit Oceana, said past environmental disasters are proof protections are necessary.
"If you look at the impacts of Deepwater Horizon, offshore drilling is one of the most destructive activities that could ever happen off a coast," Gordon asserted. "That's what's at stake. Wherever there's drilling, there'll be spilling."
A second lawsuit asked the court to uphold Obama-era offshore protections in the Arctic, protections Mr. Trump tried to undo during his first term.