“We will drill, baby, drill.” This is Donald Trump’s promise, made during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Even more, Trump’s campaign is going after oil industry money, promising execs he’ll roll back environmental standards and climate progress in exchange for $1 billion in campaign funds. To say he’s in the pocket of Big Oil CEOs is an understatement, and that’s bad news for our oceans. Offshore drilling already causes immense harm to environmental justice communities, wildlife, and our climate—and a second Trump administration would work to ramp up oil production, amplifying these harms.
Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, a policy agenda drafted by The Heritage Foundation, gives us insight into how exactly a second Trump administration could work to escalate drilling in our ocean. Not only was the Mandate for Leadership co-written by Trump allies and former staff, but many of its action items call for reinstating policies from the first Trump administration.
In case there was any doubt about what the vision is for our ocean under a Trump administration, here are some of the terrible things Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership calls for a second Trump administration to do:
Dramatically increase offshore leasing and re-open the Atlantic Ocean and Alaskan waters to new oil and gas extraction.
Project 2025 directs the Department of Interior (DOI) to maximize offshore oil and gas leasing and reinstate Trump’s first-term energy agenda. If Project 2025’s vision succeeds, we could see a greater than tenfold increase in offshore oil and gas lease sales, along with the reopening of federal waters in Alaska and off the Atlantic coast to dangerous and dirty drilling.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), our federal law governing offshore oil and gas activities, directs DOI to prepare a schedule of proposed lease sales every five years. The current five-year program for 2024-2029, which was published under the Biden administration, includes only three offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the lowest number of sales ever scheduled for a five-year period, representing real progress in the U.S. transition away from fossil fuels.
Project 2025 calls for the second Trump administration to prepare a new five-year program as soon as possible to maximize drilling and replace the Biden program. In 2018, under Trump’s leadership, DOI prepared a draft five-year program that would have scheduled a whopping forty-seven offshore oil and gas lease sales over five years. The Trump program included lease sales on every coast of the continental U.S., in addition to federal waters offshore Alaska. Under a second Trump administration, consistent with Project 2025’s vision, leasing would likely be drastically expanded and new areas would be exposed to the risks of offshore development. More offshore oil and gas drilling would line the pockets of oil CEOs at the expense of coastal communities, wildlife, and our climate.
Project 2025 also calls for the next president to work with Congress to pass a law requiring Interior to hold offshore oil and gas lease sales on a quarterly or rolling basis. If this type of law is passed, we would see at least four offshore oil and gas lease sales every year. Even worse, this law would deprive future presidential administrations of the ability to reduce or eliminate new offshore oil and gas leasing, unless new legislation were passed.
Project 2025’s vision would lock the United States into offshore oil and gas production for the foreseeable future, undermining the country’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet our goals under the Paris Agreement. More leasing means more oil spills in our ocean, more pollution in frontline communities, and more economic harm to coastal communities.
Ramp-up seismic surveys harmful to marine wildlife.
Project 2025 calls for Trump to spearhead new policies to make it easier for oil and gas companies to conduct seismic surveying in search of oil reserves under the seabed. During seismic surveys, oil and gas vessels set off extremely loud seismic blasts every few seconds, which can echo for miles through the water. These blasts can inflict incredible harm on marine mammals, causing temporary or permanent hearing loss, or even killing animals at close range. Seismic blasts can also interfere with critical lifecycle behaviors by causing marine mammals to avoid important feeding, breeding, or migratory habitat, or by masking sounds that are necessary for whales to communicate, navigate, and hunt.
Under Project 2025’s vision, new policies would make it easier for operators to get permits for seismic surveys. This would expand seismic operations at the expense of dolphins, whales, and other marine wildlife.
Sacrifice our most special ocean places to the oil and gas industry.
National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments host some of the most biologically-rich and culturally important areas of our ocean. Industrial and extractive activities are restricted in sanctuaries and monuments to protect wildlife, habitat, and cultural resources. Many marine sanctuaries and monuments also provide opportunities for people to boat, swim, fish, and learn about some of our most vibrant ocean habitats.
Project 2025 calls for the second Trump administration to institute policies prioritizing oil and gas extraction at the expense of National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments. One such policy would prevent NOAA from designating any new sanctuaries without providing a full accounting of their energy and mineral potential. Another policy would require the Secretary of Commerce and other agency heads to review all marine sanctuaries and monuments designated in the last ten years for potential energy and mineral extraction opportunities. These policies are aimed at opening more areas of the ocean to the oil and gas industry, sacrificing our marine heritage to line the pockets of fossil fuel executives.
Project 2025’s vision would set back U.S. efforts to address climate change while inflicting immense harm on our ocean. House Republicans have already begun pushing legislation and holding hearings echoing Project 2025’s pro-polluter agenda. The choice in this election is clear: a vote for Trump is a vote to drill everywhere, including off the coasts of Atlantic Ocean states like Virginia. It’s a vote for dangerous oil exploration that will harm or kill marine wildlife such as whales and dolphins. It’s a vote to put oil and gas profits over preserving threatened marine ecosystems.
Becca Loomis is a senior advisor to the NRDC Action Fund.