Interior starts process for new offshore leasing plan

Shell’s Polar Pioneer leaving Dutch Harbor in 2015. (Photo by John Ryan, KUCB – Unalaska)The Trump administration announced an initial step toward a new offshore leasing plan that could mean new drilling rights in federal waters of the Arctic.
On Monday the Interior Department will open a public comment period for a rewrite of the five-year plan.
In April, President Trump lifted the ban his predecessor imposed on new Arctic lease sales. A group of environmentalists filed suit, s