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Polar bear with carrot

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Double down on stupid


Right on the heels of abandoning post Deep Water Horizon safety regulations for offshore drilling, the Trumpsters announce today that they are going to open up 90% of the offshore ocean waters to oil drilling.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed a sweeping new offshore drilling plan aimed at opening huge swaths of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans to oil exploration as part of the Trump administration’s plan to transform the United States into a fossil fuel juggernaut.
The draft plan released Thursday includes 25 of 26 offshore planning areas and makes available for lease roughly 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The administration has identified 47 potential lease sales, including 19 off the coast of Alaska and 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, Zinke told reporters Thursday. 
Interior Secretary Zinke, who has a house in Santa Barbara, issued the new proposals, which you can read in their entirety here.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced the next step for responsibly developing the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (National OCS Program) for 2019-2024, which proposes to make over 90 percent of the total OCS acreage and more than 98 percent of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to consider for future exploration and development. By comparison, the current program puts 94 percent of the OCS off limits. In addition, the program proposes the largest number of lease sales in U.S. history.
“Responsibly developing our energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in a safe and well-regulated way is important to our economy and energy security, and it provides billions of dollars to fund the conservation of our coastlines, public lands and parks,” said Secretary Zinke. “Today's announcement lays out the options that are on the table and starts a lengthy and robust public comment period. Just like with mining, not all areas are appropriate for offshore drilling, and we will take that into consideration in the coming weeks. The important thing is we strike the right balance to protect our coasts and people while still powering America and achieving American Energy Dominance"
Earlier this year, 155 Members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate sent letters to Secretary Zinke in support of a new 5-year plan that recognizes America’s potential for energy dominance.
The Draft Proposed Program (DPP) includes 47 potential lease sales in 25 of the 26 planning areas – 19 sales off the coast of Alaska, 7 in the Pacific Region, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, and 9 in the Atlantic Region. This is the largest number of lease sales ever proposed for the National OCS Program’s 5-year lease schedule.
“By proposing to open up nearly the entire OCS for potential oil and gas exploration, the United States can advance the goal of moving from aspiring for energy independence to attaining energy dominance,” said Vincent DeVito, Counselor for Energy Policy at Interior. “This decision could bring unprecedented access to America’s extensive offshore oil and gas resources and allows us to better compete with other oil-rich nations.”
Love to get the names of the 155 members of House and Senate he references. How about them owning this thing? I lived on the Ventura Coastline five years after the last spill. You could not walk on the beach without getting massive tar balls on your feet. I don't think this is going to help Zinke get entrance to those posh parties at Hope Ranch any.

Read this article for a pretty comprehensive breakdown of the subject. I am too sick to my stomach to do a full rehash. The Trump administration doctrine is pretty clear.  Destroy everything that promotes safe renewable energy and keep plundering the landscape for fossil fuels so that his fat cat base gets richer, irrespective on consequence. My worst fears are coming true, on almost every front.

1 comment:

Sanoguy said...

Here, Here! Those guys are relentless!