Quick summary
• Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration for attempting to revoke protections on 265 million acres of federal waters.
• Trump’s executive orders aim to expand offshore oil and gas drilling in protected areas of the Atlantic, Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and Arctic, threatening marine ecosystems and coastal economies.
• A previous federal court ruling established that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act allows presidents to protect offshore waters but not to revoke protections set by their predecessors.
• Environmental organizations argue that expanded drilling could lead to devastating oil spills, disrupt marine habitats, and jeopardize industries like tourism and fishing that rely on healthy oceans.
• The lawsuits seek to reinstate protections established during the Obama and Biden administrations, which safeguarded nearly 130 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic from drilling.
• Trump’s administration has aggressively rolled back environmental protections while prioritizing fossil fuel development, freezing climate-related funding, and dismantling renewable energy initiatives.
• Conservation leaders warn that these rollbacks not only threaten U.S. coastal communities but also undermine global climate commitments and embolden corporate exploitation of natural resources.
In a bold challenge to the Trump administration’s aggressive fossil fuel agenda, leading environmental organizations have filed two major lawsuits aimed at blocking the president’s latest attempts to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. The lawsuits, spearheaded by groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), come in response to executive actions that threaten to dismantle decades of protections for fragile coastal ecosystems and marine wildlife.
“President Trump’s executive order would roll back millions of acres of ocean protection, jeopardizing our coastal economies and the people who rely on healthy, thriving oceans,” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director at Oceana, in a statement issued by the Center for Biological Diversity. “Leaders in both political parties, thousands of businesses, and millions of Americans support permanently protecting our coasts from offshore drilling.”
These lawsuits represent not just an environmental battle, but a broader fight over the future of U.S. coastal waters, climate policy, and the role of government in safeguarding public lands from exploitation by the fossil fuel industry.
Within hours of returning to office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to revoke protections covering 265 million acres of federal waters—protections that were established in the final days of the Biden administration. These rollbacks targeted vast stretches of the Atlantic, Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and the Arctic.
The executive order aims to dismantle safeguards put in place under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a law historically used by presidents to protect U.S. coastal waters from oil and gas development. Trump’s attempt to strip away these protections marks an unprecedented effort to hand over federally protected areas to fossil fuel interests.
The administration’s actions come amid a broader rollback of climate protections and a renewed push for fossil fuel development. Trump has made clear his intent to pursue a “drill baby drill” energy policy, aggressively targeting environmental safeguards established during both the Biden and Obama administrations.
Environmental groups have launched a two-pronged legal challenge against Trump’s executive orders:
The first lawsuit, filed by a coalition of local and national organizations—including the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center—seeks to reverse Trump’s order rescinding protections for over 265 million acres of federal waters.
Environmental groups argue that Trump’s actions directly violate the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which grants presidents the authority to block drilling in protected areas but does not give them the power to revoke protections established by their predecessors.
The second lawsuit, led by Earthjustice and supported by the NRDC, focuses on reinstating protections for nearly 130 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. These protections, initially put in place by the Obama administration, were previously upheld by a federal court ruling that reaffirmed a president’s authority to safeguard offshore waters but not to remove existing protections.
“We defeated Trump the first time he tried to roll back protections and sacrifice more of our waters to the oil industry. We’re bringing this abuse of the law to the courts again,” said Steve Mashuda, managing attorney for oceans at Earthjustice. “Trump is illegally trying to take away protections vital to coastal communities that rely on clean, healthy oceans for safe living conditions, thriving economies, and stable ecosystems.”
Trump’s push for expanded offshore drilling poses a catastrophic risk to marine ecosystems and endangered wildlife. Experts warn that increased drilling would:
• Heighten the risk of oil spills, threatening fragile habitats and devastating local wildlife.
• Disrupt critical ecosystems, endangering species such as whales, sea turtles, polar bears, and various marine birds.
• Pollute coastal environments, leading to long-term damage to water quality and biodiversity.
“Trump’s putting our oceans, marine wildlife, and coastal communities at risk of devastating oil spills, and we need the courts to rein in his utter contempt for the law,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Offshore oil drilling is destructive from start to finish. Opening up more public waters to the oil industry for short-term gain and political points is a reprehensible and irresponsible way to manage our precious ocean ecosystems.”
In addition to environmental harm, expanded offshore drilling could significantly impact coastal economies. According to Oceana, healthy oceans support 2.6 million jobs and contribute nearly $180 billion to the U.S. economy through industries such as tourism, fishing, and recreation.
By allowing oil and gas development in these regions, the administration threatens:
• Fishing industries dependent on clean water and healthy marine populations.
• Tourism revenue from coastal states that rely on pristine beaches and wildlife.
• Local economies built on sustainable use of ocean resources.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act has historically been used to protect federal waters from oil and gas drilling. While presidents are authorized to withdraw areas from leasing, the law does not permit the revocation of protections put in place by previous administrations.
In 2019, a federal court struck down Trump’s earlier attempt to undo protections for the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans established by President Obama. The court affirmed that only Congress, not the executive branch, has the authority to revoke permanent offshore drilling withdrawals.
Since returning to office, Trump has aggressively pursued a deregulatory agenda aimed at:
• Freezing climate-related funding for research and mitigation programs.
• Dismantling renewable energy incentives, stifling the growth of clean energy industries.
• Promoting fossil fuel development, prioritizing oil and gas interests over environmental protection.
Trump’s appointment of Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary underscores this agenda. While Burgum has acknowledged climate change as a threat, he maintains that fossil fuel development can coexist with carbon capture technology—a largely unproven solution criticized by environmental groups.
Sierra Weaver, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, emphasized the reckless nature of Trump’s actions:
“The Arctic Ocean has been protected from US drilling for nearly a decade, and those protections have been affirmed by the federal courts … Though these coastlines have been protected, the administration is showing no restraint in seeking to hand off some of our most fragile and pristine landscapes for the oil industry’s profit.”
Coastal protections enjoy bipartisan support among lawmakers and the public. Republicans and Democrats from coastal states have consistently opposed efforts to expand offshore drilling, citing economic risks and environmental devastation.
The administration’s actions threaten to undermine U.S. credibility in meeting its international climate obligations, including goals set under the Paris Agreement. Global environmental organizations have condemned the decision, warning that increased fossil fuel development could worsen the global climate crisis.
As the lawsuits proceed, the stakes extend far beyond U.S. coastlines—they represent a broader battle against the rollback of climate protections and the prioritization of corporate interests over public and environmental health.
“We are confident the court will continue to uphold the bipartisan tradition of presidents safeguarding these coastlines and protecting the people who live and work among them,” said Joseph Gordon of Oceana.
Join Oceana, protecting the world’s oceans here.
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