Trump signs order to expand drilling in Arctic, Atlantic oceans

Working to dismantle his predecessor's environmentallegacy, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Friday that could lead to the expansion of drilling in the Arcticand Atlantic oceans.

With one day left to rack up accomplishments before he reacheshis 100th day in office, Trump ordered his interior secretary toreview an Obama-era plan that dictates which locations are open tooffshore drilling, with the goal of the new administration to expandoperations.

• Trump may have difficulties reversing Obama's Arctic offshore drilling ban

• Trudeau defends Arctic drilling ban, talks economic development at Yellowknife town hall

• Trudeau announces review of Arctic strategy, joint drilling ban with U.S.

It's part of Trump's promise to unleash the nation's energyreserves in an effort to reduce reliance on foreign oil and to spurjobs, regardless of fierce opposition from environmental activists who say offshore drilling harms whales, walruses and other wildlifeand exacerbates global warming.

"This order will cement our nation's position as a global energyleader and foster energy security for the benefit of Americanpeople, without removing any of the stringent environmentalsafeguards that are currently in place," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday evening.

• Trump administration wins victory in effort to roll back Obama climate change efforts

Zinke said the order, combined with other steps Trump has takenduring his first months in office, "puts us on track for Americanenergy independence."

Reverses Obamaorder

The executive order will reverse part of a December effort byPresident Barack Obama to deem the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in theArctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic as indefinitely offlimits to oil and gas leasing.

• U.S., Canada ban offshore drilling in Arctic waters

• U.S. to block oil drilling in Atlantic Ocean

It will also direct Zinke to conduct a review of the locations available for offshore drilling under a five-year plan signed byObama in November. The plan blocked new oil and gas drilling in theAtlantic and Arctic oceans. It also blocked the planned sale of new oil and gas drilling rights in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska, but allowed drilling to go forward in Alaska's Cook Inletsouthwest of Anchorage.

The order could open to oil and gas exploration areas offVirginia and North and South Carolina, where drilling has been
blocked for decades.

Zinke said that leases scheduled under the existing plan willremain in effect during the review, which he estimated will takeseveral years.

The order will also direct Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross toconduct a review of marine monuments and sanctuaries designated overthe last 10 years.

Benefits of drilling outweigh concerns, Zinke says

Citing his department's data, Zinke said the Interior Departmentoversees some 1.7 billion acres on the outer continental shelf, which contains an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oiland 327 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas. Undercurrent restrictions, about 94 per cent of that outer continentalshelf is off-limits to drilling.

Zinke, who will also be tasked with reviewing other drillingrestrictions, acknowledged environmental concerns as "valid," but he argued that the benefits of drilling outweigh concerns.

Environmental activists, meanwhile, railed against the expectedsigning, which comes seven years after the devastating 2010 BP oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Diana Best of Greenpeace said that opening new areas to offshoreoil and gas drilling would lock the U.S. "into decades of harmfulpollution, devastating spills like the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and a fossil fuel economy with no future.

"Scientific consensus is that the vast majority of known fossilfuel reserves including the oil and gas off U.S. coasts- mustremain undeveloped if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change," she said.

Jacqueline Savitz of the ocean advocacy group Oceana warned theorder would lead to "corner-cutting and set us up for anotherhavoc-wreaking environmental disaster" in places like the OuterBanks or in remote Barrow, Alaska, "where there's no proven way toremove oil from sea ice."

"We need smart, tough standards to ensure that energy companiesare not operating out of control," she said, adding: "In theirabsence, America's future promises more oil spills andindustrialized coastlines."