Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy

Record & deadlines

1. Apr 28, 2017Signed

   Signed by the President

2. May 3, 2017FR published

   Published in the Federal Register · 82 FR 20815

   Federal Register PDF
3. Oct 25, 2017

   Secretary of Commerce to report marine sanctuary and monument review results to OMB, CEQ, and economic policy advisor

4. Jun 27, 2017

   Secretary of Interior to provide energy/mineral resource accounting upon sanctuary designation notification

Key directives

• Revoke EO 13754 (Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience)
• Revise OCS lease sale schedule to include annual sales in Western/Central Gulf of Mexico, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic
• Develop streamlined permitting for private seismic data collection
• Require energy/mineral resource accounting before marine sanctuary designations or expansions
• Review all marine sanctuary and monument designations/expansions from prior 10 years
• Review and potentially modify BOEM Notice to Lessees 2016-N01 and financial assurance policy
• Review and propose revisions to BSEE Well Control Rule (Blowout Preventer Systems)
• Review and consider revising/withdrawing BOEM offshore air quality rule
• Expedite incidental take authorizations and seismic survey permits
• Review and potentially rescind/revise NOAA marine mammal acoustic guidance (NMFS-OPR-55)
• Review and potentially suspend/revise/rescind Arctic offshore drilling rule
• Modify prior OCS withdrawal memoranda (2008, 2015, 2016) to remove expiration dates except for marine sanctuary areas

Who is ordered

• Secretary of the Interior · Department of the Interior
• Secretary of Commerce · Department of Commerce
• Secretary of Defense · Department of Defense
• Secretary of Homeland Security · Department of Homeland Security
• Director of BOEM · Department of the Interior
• OMB Director · Office of Management and Budget
• Chairman of CEQ · CEQ
• Assistant to the President for Economic Policy · White House

Prior policyRollback

• revokeEO 13754 (Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience)
• otherMemoranda of withdrawal from disposition by leasing of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf issued on December 20, 2016, January 27, 2015, and July 14, 2008
• otherBOEM Notice to Lessees No. 2016-N01
• otherBOEM financial assurance regulatory policy
• otherBSEE Well Control Rule (Blowout Preventer Systems), 81 Fed. Reg. 25888 (April 29, 2016)
• otherBOEM Proposed Rule 'Air Quality Control, Reporting, and Compliance', 81 Fed. Reg. 19718 (April 5, 2016)
• otherNOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-55 (Technical Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing)
• otherFinal Rule 'Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf—Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf', 81 Fed. Reg. 46478 (July 15, 2016)

Related orders

• revokesEO 13754
• referencesEO 13754

What to expect

Risks & tensions

• Potential conflict with coastal state opposition to offshore drilling (e.g., Atlantic coast states)
• Weakening of well control and Arctic drilling rules may increase spill risk—tension between 'minimizing regulatory burdens' and 'safe and environmentally responsible' policy language
• Expedited seismic permits and potential weakening of marine mammal protections may violate Marine Mammal Protection Act or trigger litigation
• Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic lease sales face strong political and legal headwinds regardless of schedule revision
• Modified withdrawal language preserves marine sanctuary protections but removes time limits on other withdrawn areas—legal durability of this modification uncertain
• 'As appropriate and consistent with applicable law' qualifiers throughout create implementation uncertainty