A key public comment period just ended for revising the offshore exploration program along the U.S. Atlantic Coast, and the path forward might not be as smooth as the Trump administration had hoped. The Department of Interior, which regulates offshore drilling and also conducts lease sales to the industry, had closed off the possibility of drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans during the Obama era. But President Trump has tried to move quickly to reverse that decision, kicking off the process to open up the Atlantic for exploration. But the President can’t just open up the Atlantic at the stroke of a pen – there is a protracted legal and regulatory process that the Department of Interior must go through. One step of that process just came to a close. The Interior publishes five-year plans, which detail what offshore areas under federal control they will auction off. The […]