The Obama administration is about to release plans to make the Arctic off-limits to offshore drilling and cancel some 25 oil and gas leases at a national forest.
Sources told Bloomberg News’ Jennifer Dlouhy the Department of the Interior’s new five-year offshore drilling plan will “block the sale of new oil and gas drilling rights in U.S. Arctic waters,” which is a big win for environmentalists.
The plan could be short-lived, however. President-elect Donald Trump may decide to scrap Interior’s current five-year plan and start the process anew. There’s also the prospect of Congress using the Congressional Review Act to undo the ban.
Dlouhy notes the plan “is subject to a 60-day congressional review and could be rewritten by President-elect Donald Trump, in a process that could take months or years.”
Republican lawmakers are concerned the Obama administration will rush through a slew of “midnight” regulations before Trump takes office in January, and the House passed legislation Thursday to curb this practice.
