Leading environmental groups are mounting a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s auction of offshore drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
Their lawsuit, which was filed earlier this week in Washington, D.C., claims federal officials illegally expanded Gulf of Mexico drilling by failing to analyze the risks to people, wildlife, and the environment.
Trump Auctions Gulf of Mexico Leases Ahead of Deepwater Horizon Anniversary
“This lease sale is coming just a month shy of the 10-year memorial of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and at a time of global crisis,” Brettny Hardy, an attorney with Earthjustice, said in a statement announcing the filing. “It is yet another example of the Trump administration putting profits before the health and safety of people and the planet.”
Expanding offshore drilling is a key component of President Trump’s “Energy First” policy. But last March, a federal judge struck down his executive order reversing a permanent ban on offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean and sensitive areas of the Atlantic.
As a result, plans to expand offshore drilling are now focused on the Gulf of Mexico, where this month’s auction offered up 78 million acres to drillers. In doing so, the Trump administration opened all available unleased acreage in the Gulf — essentially everything but the continental shelf off the Florida coast – to energy exploration and production.
Oil Spills and Offshore Injuries Rise Amid Trump’s Regulatory Rollbacks
Over the past several years, officials appointed by the President have also significantly weakened the Well Control Rule, a set of regulations put in place by the Obama administration to avoid a repeat of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 offshore workers, seriously injured 17 others, and allowed millions of gallons of crude oil to pollute the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.
To make matters worse, federal inspectors logged 13% fewer visits to rigs, platforms, pipelines, and other offshore facilities in the first three years of the Trump administration compared to the last three years of the Obama administration. Enforcement actions were down by 38% during the same period.
While the Trump administration maintains that its regulatory rollbacks aren’t impacting offshore safety, the numbers tell a different story. In fact. the Center for American Progress recently reported that the amount of oil spilled per barrel produced on the Outer Continental Shelf increased six-fold in 2018 and 2019 compared with the previous two years. At the same time, the number of offshore injuries per hours worked increased by 21%.
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