Obama blocks Trump's path to oil-drilling in the Arctic

President Obama blocks Trump&#039;s path to drilling oil in the Arctic.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 18 November 2016

President Obama just threw a wrench in President-elect Donald Trump's plans for offshore drilling. On Friday, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a revised blueprint for oil drilling in federally-owned waters over the next five years — and two areas in the Arctic Ocean were notably missing from the approved list. "The plan focuses on lease sales in the best places — those with highest resource potential, lowest conflict, and established infrastructure — and removes regions that are simply not right to lease,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement. "Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry's declining interest in the area, forgoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward."

While the plan allows drilling to continue in Alaska's Cook Inlet, exploration will be halted in 2017 in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the Alaskan coast. The Washington Post reported the blueprint also "dropped plans to allow companies to drill for oil and natural gas in the Atlantic Ocean off of four southeastern states, including Virginia."

Trump has vowed to increase the production of oil and gas and cut back on industry regulations during his presidency. While he could technically undo the Obama administration's plan, Politico reported it would "take at least a few years for him to do so."