US President Donald Trump is set to issue a directive on Friday which will re-open the possibility of oil and gas exploration offshore California, according to Bloomberg.
Unnamed sources privy to the plan say the President’s order will instruct the Department of the Interior (DOI) to review sites for drilling, effectively rolling back protections previous President Barack Obama put in place before he left office, ruling those areas off limits.
DOI secretary Ryan Zinke said earlier this week that nothing should be off the table for considering possible Pacific oil leases.
But the environmentalist lobby is strong in California and would be sure to resist any such moves.
It is also forecast that President Trump will issue another directive on Friday to review safety regulations in offshore energy, notably the well-control rule brought in as a consequence of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
