Trump’s Drilling Ban Also Blocks Offshore Wind

The post Trump's Drilling Ban Also Blocks Offshore Wind appeared first on POWER Magazine.

President Trump's action to ban oil and gas drilling off the East Coast and through much of the Gulf of Mexico also eliminates leases for offshore wind farms, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Trump earlier this month issued two memos withdrawing the potential to lease land for oil and gas extraction on the offshore continental shelf. The action bans the issuance of leases from Virginia southward, around the entire state of Florida, and north through the Gulf of Mexico to an area near the border of Florida and Alabama.

Bloomberg reported Sept. 28 that an email from an Interior Dept. spokesperson, the agency that oversees offshore energy development, confirmed the action. According to the news agency, the message from Interior cited an email from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management spokeswoman Tracey Moriarity, which said: The withdrawal includes all energy leasing, including conventional and renewable energy, beginning on July 1, 2022."

The move would be a crippling blow for the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry. An August statement from the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), a trade group, said the offshore wind sector was looking at development that would bring the Treasury Dept. lease payments of $1.7 billion by 2022.

Billions of Dollars' Threatened

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) that represents offshore wind developers, said in an email to Bloomberg that the bans threaten tens of thousands of additional jobs and billions of dollars of investment [that] are expected through a prospective wind lease offshore the Carolinas.

Companies are already spending millions of dollars investing in wind projects offshore Virginia and North Carolina," Milito wrote in the email. Limiting the geographic scope of Atlantic wind development is not just a missed opportunity for the areas immediately onshore, it limits the ability of a new source of American energy production to grow and innovate."

Milito in a statement earlier this month, when news broke that Trump was set to extend the current ban on leasing off the Florida coast, said, America's offshore energy resources are a strategic asset. The economic, national security and environmental stewardship benefits the offshore provides impact every American. The benefits are nonpartisan; we should not limit American offshore production."

Shift in Policy

The ban on offshore oil and gas drilling is a shift in policy for the Trump administration, which in 2017, in one of the first acts by the president, began opening the offshore continental shelf for drilling as part of one of Trump's America First" programs.

The ban on leases for energy development has been a difficult political issue for the administration. Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered the Interior Dept. to consider scheduling new sales of drilling rights along the U.S. coast. The agency in January 2018 responded with a draft plan opening the door to selling drilling rights in more than 90% of U.S. coastal waters.

A year later, though, administration officials decided to delay their plan to expand oil leasing until after this year's election, amid pushback from Republican leaders in the Southeast and elsewhere concerned about losing votes if they supported the sale of new drilling rights.

Memos Ban All Leases

The language in the two memos would ban all leases of land under U.S. control on the offshore continental shelf. The Sept. 8 memo for the outer continental shelf, from the border of North and South Carolina and around the Straits of Florida to Alabama, states: SUBJECT: Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf from Leasing Disposition....

I hereby withdraw from disposition by leasing for 10 years, beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032....

This withdrawal prevents consideration of these areas for any leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production during the 10-year period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032....

This withdrawal does not apply to leasing for environmental conservation purposes, including the purposes of shore protection, beach nourishment and restoration, wetlands restoration, and habitat protection."

The Sept. 25 memo that covers the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina says: SUBJECT: Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf from Leasing Disposition....

I hereby withdraw from disposition by leasing for 10 years, beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032.

This withdrawal prevents consideration of this area for any leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production during the 10-year period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032.

This withdrawal does not apply to leasing for environmental conservation purposes, including the purposes of shore protection, beach nourishment and restoration, wetlands restoration, and habitat protection."

Legal experts have said the leasing bans could be difficult for future administrations to undo. A federal district court already has rejected Trump's attempt to overturn a block on Arctic drilling, a measure imposed by former President Barack Obama using the same legal authority. That issue is currently before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That court heard arguments in the case in June.

-Darrell Proctor is associate editor for POWER (@DarrellProctor1, @POWERmagazine).

The post Trump's Drilling Ban Also Blocks Offshore Wind appeared first on POWER Magazine.