Judge Throws Out Trump Executive Order That Restored Drilling In Arctic Ocean

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 26: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Joshua Holt, members of Holt's family and the congressional delegation of Utah at the U.S. at The White House on May 26, 20... WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 26: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Joshua Holt, members of Holt's family and the congressional delegation of Utah at the U.S. at The White House on May 26, 2018 in Washington, DC. Holt, who had been imprisoned in Venezuela for two years, was released following diplomat efforts by the Trump and Obama administrations. (Photo by Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he reversed bans on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a U.S. judge said in a ruling that restored the Obama-era restrictions.

Judge Sharon Gleason in a decision late Friday threw out Trump’s executive order that overturned the bans that comprised a key part of Obama’s environmental legacy.

Presidents have the power under a federal law to remove certain lands from development but cannot revoke those removals, Gleason said.

“The wording of President Obama’s 2015 and 2016 withdrawals indicates that he intended them to extend indefinitely, and therefore be revocable only by an act of Congress,” said Gleason, who was nominated to the bench by Obama.

A message left Saturday for the Department of Justice was not immediately returned.
The American Petroleum Institute, a defendant in the case, disagreed with the ruling.

“In addition to bringing supplies of affordable energy to consumers for decades to come, developing our abundant offshore resources can provide billions in government revenue, create thousands of jobs and will also strengthen our national security,” it said in a statement.

Eric Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice, welcomed the ruling, saying it “shows that the president cannot just trample on the Constitution to do the bidding of his cronies in the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our oceans, wildlife and climate.”

Earthjustice represented numerous environmental groups that sued the Trump administration over the April 2017 executive order reversing the drilling bans. At issue in the case was the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Wood said during a hearing before Gleason in November that environmental groups were misinterpreting the intent of the law written in 1953. He said it is meant to be flexible and sensible and not intended to bind one president with decisions made by another when determining offshore stewardship as needs and realities change over time.

In 2015, Obama halted exploration in coastal areas of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas and the Hanna Shoal, an important area for walrus. In late 2016, he withdrew most other potential Arctic Ocean lease areas — about 98 percent of the Arctic outer continental shelf.

The bans were intended to protect polar bears, walruses, ice seals and Alaska Native villages that depend on the animals.

In the Atlantic, Obama banned exploration in 5,937 square miles (15,377 square kilometers) of underwater canyon complexes, citing their importance for marine mammals, deep-water corals, valuable fish populations and migratory whales.

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  1. A message left Saturday for the Department of Justice was not immediately returned.

    “Sorry we can’t come to the phone right now we’re at Defon 2. Please leave your name and number and we will get back to you once we finish editing the Mueller Report. Thanks and have a :grinning: day.”

  2. Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Wood said the law written in 1953 is meant to be flexible and sensible as needs and realities change over time.

    Unlike the 2nd Amendment that was ratified in 1791 and cannot under any circumstances be flexible and sensible to reflect the needs and realities that change over time. And don’t get me started on activist judges who legislate from the bench to favor the world we live in over the profits of the petrochemical industry. The Founding Fathers clearly favored drilling in the Arctic outer continental shelf because the Constitution does not prohibit it.

  3. Avatar for ottis ottis says:

    Doesn’t the judge understand that this will upset the president. With the mental condition that Trump is in, There is no way of knowing what Trump will do. Now it will be the judges fault. How long must we live with these conditions?

  4. Thanks judge!!
    On another note … since it’s trump stupidity…



    This is NOT the way to fix the influx of people coming here from Central America and Mexico. It makes things WORSE by orders of magnitude.
    Fucking stupid move.

  5. Avatar for mtw mtw says:

    Good news for the delicate Northern environment, And good news that these protections cannot be revoked. A big move against fossil fuels, so we are going in the right direction. pffft to Trump and his flunkies…

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