Environmental groups sued the Trump administration on February 19, opposing the leader's plans to expand offshore oil drilling.
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| Homes along the Arctic Ocean in Utqiagvik, Alaska, in 2023. (Source: Getty Images) |
The first lawsuit challenges Trump's executive order rescinding former President Joe Biden's order protecting vulnerable ocean areas from future oil and gas leasing.
Meanwhile, the second lawsuit seeks to restore a 2021 federal court ruling that invalidated efforts during Mr. Trump’s first term to reverse offshore protections established by former President Barack Obama.
At the end of his term, former President Biden issued a policy to protect areas off the Eastern Gulf Coast, as well as the Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaskan coasts, invoking the Offshore Continental Shelf Lands Act.
After taking over the White House, Mr. Trump moved to open up much of the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas exploration by reviving his first-term executive order.
In their lawsuit, environmental groups cited a federal court ruling from Trump’s first term when he tried to roll back Obama-era ocean protections. They argued that the ruling did not give the president the authority to revoke orders issued during previous administrations.
Attorney Steve Mashuda, who is prosecuting the case, said the plaintiffs allege that President Trump is attempting to strip away critical protections for coastal communities that depend on clean, sustainable oceans for safe living conditions, thriving economies, and stable ecosystems.
Oceana environmental campaign leader Joseph Gordon expressed concern that President Trump's executive order would undo thousands of square miles of ocean protection, endangering America's coastal economy and the people who depend on the ocean.
The move comes as on his first day in office as President on January 20 this year, Mr. Trump announced for the second time that the US would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, while declaring a "national energy emergency" to expand oil and gas drilling and exploitation activities, as well as signing executive orders to slow the transition to electric vehicles and stop offshore wind farm projects.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/chinh-quyen-tong-thong-trump-bi-kien-305000.html
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