Current:Home > ContactRekubit-Trump Administration OK’s Its First Arctic Offshore Drilling Plan -Golden Summit Finance
Rekubit-Trump Administration OK’s Its First Arctic Offshore Drilling Plan
EchoSense Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-07 07:33:45
Making good on Rekubitits promise to jump-start Arctic offshore drilling, the Trump administration gave Italian oil company Eni a quick green light on Wednesday to drill exploratory wells off the coast of Alaska.
This is the first Arctic drilling approval under President Donald Trump. It also will be the first exploration project conducted in the U.S. Arctic since Shell’s failed attempt in the Chukchi Sea in 2015.
The approval comes as the administration attempts to overturn former President Barack Obama’s ban of new drilling in federal Arctic waters. Eni’s leases were exempt from Obama’s ban because the leases are not new.
Environmental groups are calling the approval a sign that Trump is doing the bidding of the oil industry. The public had 21 days to review and comment on the exploration plan and 10 days to comment on the environmental impacts, which Kristen Monsell, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said was insufficient given the potential risks.
“An oil spill here would do incredible damage, and it’d be impossible to clean up,” Monsell said. “The Trump administration clearly cares only about appeasing oil companies, no matter its legal obligations or the threats to polar bears or our planet.”
Eni plans to drill four exploratory wells in December 2017, just before the leases expire at the end of the year.
The wells will be drilled from Spy Island, an existing gravel island in state waters, located three miles off the coast of Alaska. The wells would be the longest extended-reach wells in Alaska—stretching six miles horizontally into an area of shallow federal waters about six feet deep.
“We know there are vast oil and gas resources under the Beaufort Sea, and we look forward to working with Eni in their efforts to tap into this energy potential,” said the Management’s acting director, Walter Cruickshank, in a statement.
Monsell noted that Eni had not pursued exploratory drilling there until its leases were about to expire.
“Approving this Arctic drilling plan at the 11th hour makes a dangerous project even riskier,” she said.
In June, the Center and 12 other environmental organizations, including Earthjustice, Greenpeace, WWF and the Sierra Club, sent comments to BOEM about Eni’s proposed plan. In their comments, the groups said that Eni’s plan failed to adequately assess the extent of environmental harm the project could pose, the likelihood of an oil spill, or how Eni would respond to a large oil spill.
“Eni simply has failed to submit a complete, adequate Exploration Plan and environmental impact analysis, and, accordingly BOEM should rescind its completeness determination and reject Eni’s Exploration Plan,” the groups wrote.
BOEM disagreed, finding that the project would have “no significant impact.”
“Eni brought to us a solid, well-considered plan,” Cruickshank said.
Eni has said it will only drill in the winter when a potential oil spill would be easier to clean up and when whales are not migrating in the area.
Before Eni can drill, it will have to secure additional permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
veryGood! (63)
Related
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Stephen tWitch Boss' Mom Shares What Brings Her Peace 6 Months After His Death
- College student falls hundreds of feet to his death while climbing Oregon mountain with his girlfriend
- The cost of a dollar in Ukraine
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Inside Clean Energy: Solar Panel Prices Are Rising, but Don’t Panic.
- After 25 Years of Futility, Democrats Finally Jettison Carbon Pricing in Favor of Incentives to Counter Climate Change
- iCarly’s Nathan Kress Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Wife London
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- All of You Will Love All of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's Family Photos
Ranking
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- With Trump Gone, Old Fault Lines in the Climate Movement Reopen, Complicating Biden’s Path Forward
- New $2 billion Oklahoma theme park announced, and it's not part of the Magic Kingdom
- Hurry! Everlane’s 60% Off Sale Ends Tonight! Don’t Miss Out on These Summer Deals
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Panera rolls out hand-scanning technology that has raised privacy concerns
- Yang Bing-Yi, patriarch of Taiwan's soup dumpling empire, has died
- On the Defensive a Year Ago, the American Petroleum Institute Is Back With Bravado
Recommendation
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
What to know about 4 criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump
Why G Flip and Chrishell Stause Are Already Planning Their Next Wedding
Yang Bing-Yi, patriarch of Taiwan's soup dumpling empire, has died
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Why Richard Branson's rocket company, Virgin Orbit, just filed for bankruptcy
Confusion Over Line 5 Shutdown Highlights Biden’s Tightrope Walk on Climate and Environmental Justice
Jimmie Johnson Withdraws From NASCAR Race After Tragic Family Deaths