Oil and gas drilling was hardly imminent off New England when US President Barack Obama created an underwater museum for the study of marine life.
But that doesn't mean the oil and gas industry won't be affected by creation on Sept. 15 of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
Before then, any plan to drill in federal water off New England would have been blocked at state level under the Coastal Zone Management Act.
Obama, though, habitually ignores state prerogatives and programs not of his making.
A White House statement on creation of the 4,913-sq-mile monument even co-opted climate change.
"By permanently protecting these resources and reducing other threats to their respective ecosystems, these actions will also improve ocean resilience in the face of climate change and help to sustain the ocean ecosystems and fishing economies in these regions for the long run," it said.
In fact, statutory and Executive Branch protections already are in place. And a network of fishery management councils and commissions further protects marine habitat.
Apparently unsatisfied with those endeavors, Obama exercised presidential authority conferred by the Antiquities Act of 1906, passed to protect archeological sites and unique natural features against careless digging and commercial pilfering.
Congress clearly didn't design the law to be a tool of presidential control over federal land. Yet presidents of both parties have used it that way.
What should worry the oil and gas industry is how Obama's new monument designation, like his expansion a month earlier of a monument off Hawaii, conforms with his late-term quest for environmental trophies.
On Sept. 9, his administration suspended work on the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline hours after a court ruled against an injunction sought by activists.
In service to his environmental legacy, Obama craves adulation of the community, from which he emerged, of people dedicated to stopping work they find disagreeable.
Higher on their target list than lobster fishing, of course, remains anything related to fossil energy.
(From the subscription area of www.ogj.com, posted Sept. 16, 2016; author's e-mail: [email protected])
Bob Tippee | Editor
Bob Tippee has been chief editor of Oil & Gas Journal since January 1999 and a member of the Journal staff since October 1977. Before joining the magazine, he worked as a reporter at the Tulsa World and served for four years as an officer in the US Air Force. A native of St. Louis, he holds a degree in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
