Revocation of President Obama’s “Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coast, and the Great Lakes” executive order.
In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill – the largest accidental oil spill in history, which dumped over 130 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico – President Obama issued an executive order aimed at protecting the well-being of marine ecosystems:
“To achieve an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of present and future generations,”
Status
June 19th, 2018 POLICY REVOKED
President Trump’s Executive Order 13840, revokes and replaces the Obama-era policy, removing emphasis on protecting fragile marine environments and replacing it with a priority on “economic and national security” and dissolving much of the inter-agency infrastructure created to facilitate conservation efforts.
National Ocean Policy Executive Order | Harvard Regulatory Rollback Tracker
Notables
- Trumps replacement policy placed the focus all but entirely on “economic growth” and energy production, with references to conservation and sustainability either entirely absent or mentioned only as secondary concerns.
Trump’s new oceans policy washes away Obama’s emphasis on conservation and climate | Science Magazine (6.19.18)
Image credit: Stuart Rankin