In a move that overturns an Obama-era rule, President Donald Trump signed S.J.Res.11, disapproving of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) requirement for archaeological reports from new oil and gas leaseholders on the Outer Continental Shelf involved in potentially disruptive activities on the seafloor. The rule was intended to protect underwater cultural heritage, according to a statement from the Department of the Interior.
This change is part of the Trump-Vance administration's wider agenda to cut what they call regulatory red tape, basing this action on Executive Order 14192, "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation." Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, has been an advocate for reducing regulations that he asserts slow down energy production. "Focusing on innovation over regulation to solve the nation’s challenges is allowing us to smartly expand American energy and make our world cleaner and safer by selling energy to our friends and allies versus them having to buy it from our adversaries," Burgum stated, according to the department's release.
The previous rule imposed by BOEM back in September 2024 under the previous administration, aimed to prevent potential damage to untouched marine archaeological resources due to the oil and gas industry's seafloor-disturbing activities. In contrast, Burgum has been moving quickly to reinstate offshore lease sales for oil and gas extraction on areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, following a national energy emergency declaration made by Trump earlier in February.
"Getting offshore lease sales to be regular, predictable, and at a level that allows us to maintain energy production in our country is a minimum standard for us," Burgum told the Department of the Interior. The offshore energy sector remains pivotal not just for American prosperity, but for national security concerns, accounting for 14% of the domestic oil produce in fiscal year 2024, an impressive figure considering the regulations in place last year.
The Department of the Interior, which manages close to 3.2 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, continues to champion expanding access to offshore drilling as a means to reduce consumer costs, address the national deficit, and assert energy security. According to the DOI, the recently nullified Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources rule will have no force or effect moving forward, with BOEM set to make amendments to the Code of Federal Regulations published in the Federal Register in the coming days.
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