Trump Plans to Open Almost All of Coast to Offshore Drilling

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(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is readying a proposal to open almost all US coastal waters to new offshore oil drilling despite opposition from state governors and the president’s previous efforts to close off some of the territory. 

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The draft plan for selling oil leases includes waters near the southeast US that President Donald Trump tried to close off while campaigning for reelection five years ago, a nod to Republican allies worried about the risk of spills fouling beaches and their tourism-tied economies. 

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Documents detailing the expansive Interior Department proposal were reviewed by Bloomberg News. It isn’t clear that the drafted plans have been presented to Trump for his approval; they could change before they are published.

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A spokesperson for the Interior Department said the agency won’t comment on deliberative information, but added that it “has been clear that there is a national energy emergency and all options to combat that crisis and win the AI race against China are on the table.”

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While it’s likely a final sale schedule will be scaled back, the initial draft signals a potentially massive expansion in US territory targeted for oil and gas leasing — including near coral reefs and Arctic waters environmentalists have said would be imperiled by drilling. Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed the largest marine oil spill in US history, the initiative underscores Trump’s commitment to expanding energy production beyond the long-developed Gulf of Mexico, which the president renamed the Gulf of America.

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The draft, developed by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, lays out the framework for possible auctions of oil and gas drilling rights in waters all along the US East and West coasts, ringing Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. Prohibitions on drilling would likely remain in protected areas such as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off Hawaii.

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Environmentalists blasted the reported plan, saying it would put too many coastal communities and marine habitats at risk.

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“President Trump would be ignoring the bipartisan voices of communities, business leaders, and elected officials around the country who oppose the expansion of offshore drilling,” said Joseph Gordon, a campaign director with the conservation group Oceana.

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Oil companies have shown limited appetite to explore new US waters far beyond the Gulf, where they could confront political opposition as well as geological risk. Relatively little is known about potential oil and gas along the East Coast, with most existing data tied to decades-old geological surveys and some four-dozen wells drilled in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Even so, the Interior documents show there is “industry interest” in drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific. While oil companies have focused attention on the Gulf, the industry has broadly supported more access and opportunities.

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The Interior Department’s draft is an initial step in assembling a new five-year blueprint for selling Outer Continental Shelf oil leases from 2026 to 2031. If finalized, it would replace a program developed under former President Joe Biden that scheduled just three auctions from 2024 to 2029.