Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday, stopping the Trump administration from opening up vast new areas to offshore oil and gas drilling.
The suit is a series of cases aimed at promoting what is called “energy domination” in the White House by pivoting towards fossil fuels and moving away from clean energy sources like solar and wind. This is an opening shot that could be.
Once in office, President Trump has revoked Biden-era protections for drilling in certain areas of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic. Today's lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Alaska by Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm, on behalf of several groups. Congress argues that although he granted the President the authority to provide protection to these areas, he did not grant the administrative department the authority to revoke those protections.
In the lawsuit, Trump and two cabinet officials, Secretary of Home Affairs Doug Burgham and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, act in their official capabilities, acting as defendants.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Home Affairs spokesperson J. Elizabeth Peace said her office had not commented on the pending lawsuit.
A near identical effort to drill by the first Trump administration was suspended in 2019 by a federal judge in Alaska. Earth Justice and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a complaint on behalf of the wider group collection of groups seeking recovery from the same judge. That order.
Trump's recent executive order on expanding offshore drilling says it needs to encourage oil and gas exploration and production to meet demand and ensure that the US remains a global energy leader. Masu.
Critics of Trump's policy say fossil fuel burning is a major factor in global warming, and scientists need the world to leave fossil fuels as soon as possible to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change. He points out that he says. They also note that solar and wind power generation now generate electricity at a cheaper price than fossil fuels.
Offshore excavation is dangerous. This is because the runoff can travel far and pollute marine life in a wide area. The 2010 explosion of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon Rig created the worst offshore oil spill in American history. But even a small oil spill that doesn't make a headline can have serious consequences.
Most offshore drilling today takes place outside the area of interest, particularly in western Mexico and the Central Gulf. Steve Mashuda, the lead lawyer in Earthjustice's case, called Trump's move “long-term handouts” of future development rights for the oil industry that puts people and wildlife at risk. Even activities that come before excavation pose an immediate risk to wildlife, like seismic investigations used in the investigation, the lawsuit argues.
He also pointed to previous opposition to offshore oil development from coastal communities, including Republican-led states like Florida.
Other groups appealing are the Sierra Club, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, Biodiversity Center, Healthy Gulf Coast, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, Sulfrider Foundation, Greenpeace and the Turtle Island Restoration Network.
Christian Wagley, a host of the nonprofit Healthy Gulf and based in Pensacola, Florida, pointed out that both Republicans and Democrats are opposed to the development of offshore oil and gas. He cited an order by Trump later in his first term to extend the drilling moratorium from Florida, where he had previously opposed.
“I think there's more work to do here than in reality,” Wagley said of Trump's latest order. “We hope that our elected officials will maintain our long, bipartisan tradition of moving away from Florida.”
The lawsuit appeared to focus on one environment that focused on the first environment of Trump's second term, but the administration's early days of freeze-funding funds and cutting down federal workforce. There are many other legal challenges in the movement. Programs related to climate change and the protection of poor and minority communities affected by pollution were among Trump officials' first targets.
