Earthjustice President Reacts to Judge’s Ruling Striking Down Trump’s Order to Undo Drilling Protections for Arctic, Atlantic | WPN World People News

On March 29, a judge struck down President Trump’s order to undo a ban on oil and gas drilling in the vast majority of the Arctic Ocean and important areas of the Atlantic, ruling Trump exceeded his constitutional authority and violated federal law. The decision immediately restores permanent protections from drilling to those areas and prevents the Trump administration from holding the offshore lease sales it proposed to schedule there starting this year.

As one of his signature acts of conservation, President Obama permanently withdrew almost 120 million acres in the Arctic Ocean — about 98 percent of the U.S. territory of the Arctic Ocean — and 31 biologically rich deepwater canyons in the Atlantic Ocean from oil and gas leasing. In April 2017, President Trump issued an executive order purporting to undo Obama’s permanent protection of those ocean territories.

Attorneys from Earthjustice and Natural Resources Defense Council challenged that action, bringing a case on behalf of conservation and Alaska Native groups. Yesterday’s ruling prevents future lease sales in these areas and protects them from drilling rigs in the future.

Source: Earthjustice