May, 02 2019, 12:00am EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Maggie Caldwell, Earthjustice, mcaldwell@earthjustice.org, (415) 217-2084
Trump Administration Expected to Weaken Post-Deepwater Horizon Offshore Drilling Safety Regs
Rule repeal will remove critical safeguards to prevent another well blowout and oil spill
WASHINGTON
The Trump administration is expected to issue a rule rolling back safety regulations designed to prevent another Deepwater Horizon tragedy. The Well Control and Blowout Preventer Rule, finalized under the Obama administration, requires real-time oversight of risky drilling operations and precautionary failsafe measures to stop a spill when things go wrong. Interior officials began re-writing the rule after President Trump issued an executive order in 2017 calling for offshore drilling controls -- regarded as a "burden" by the fossil fuel industry -- to be rolled back.
The following is a statement from Chris Eaton, Earthjustice Oceans Attorney:
"The Trump administration is rolling back mechanisms and technology designed to protect rig workers and prevent another disaster offshore. These rollbacks are a hand out to oil company CEOs at the cost of endangering the lives of their workers and heightening the risk for another environmental catastrophe off America's coastlines. We will use every tool we have to prevent these rollbacks."
Earthjustice has several active cases challenging the Trump administration's current offshore drilling operations and the unlawful expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing and exploration. Recently, Earthjustice won a challenge that struck down President Trump's executive order to open the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic oceans to offshore leasing. The non-profit environmental law organization has two active lawsuits challenging Gulf of Mexico lease sales and current Gulf drilling operations that threaten wildlife, human safety, and coastal communities. Earthjustice is partnering with nearly a dozen other groups to prevent seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean, an exploratory precursor to offshore drilling that can harm or kill marine wildlife. And last December, the organization challenged the Trump administration's approval of Hilcorp Alaska's controversial Liberty project, the first offshore oil drilling development in federal Arctic waters.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has attempted to roll back health, safety and environmental regulations to advance corporate and polluter interests. In response, Earthjustice has filed more than 100 lawsuits to aggressively defend the protections that make our environment healthier and our communities safer. The federal courts have been handing Trump one loss after another, ruling that the administration cannot flout the requirements of existing environmental laws in order to help the energy industry.
Online version of this press release.
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Judge in Trump's New York Fraud Trial Issues 'Gag Order' After Former President's Attacks
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In a New York on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Arthur Engoron issued a gag order against former President Donald Trump and said he would face further "serious sanctions" if he issues any more threats or public comments against the judge, his staff, or the court where Trump is on trial for civil fraud.
Engoron, who sits on the New York City Civil and State Supreme Court, issued the order shortly after the Republican 2024 presidential candidate's claimed on social media that Engoron's clerk is "running this case against" him.
"Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any of my staff," he said. "Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances."
During a lunch break on Tuesday, Trump posted a photo of the clerk, attorney Allison Greenfield, with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and called her "Schumer's girlfriend."
"How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately," he wrote on Truth Social in a post that Engoron ordered him to delete.
On Monday as the trial opened, Trump called the proceedings a "scam," "a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time," and "an attempt to hurt me in an election."
The judge noted on Tuesday that he had "warned counsel off the record about the former president's comments yesterday, but the warning went unheeded," according toThe Hill.
The case is one of four pending civil and criminal cases against the former president and centers on allegations that Trump inflated the value of his assets in New York.
As Common Dreamsreported on Monday, advocates are expressing concern for the safety of jurors in the four trials due to Trump's repeated claims that he will not "get a fair trial" and comments he's made regarding his legal troubles including, "If you go after me, I will come after you."
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In addition to Gaetz, the Republicans who voted for the motion to vacate were: Reps. Andy Biggs (Az.), Ken Buck (Col.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Eli Crane (Az.), Bob Good (La.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), and Matt Rosendale (Mt.).
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On Monday, Gaetz accused McCarthy of making a "secret side deal" with President Joe Biden to provide more funding for Ukraine.
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McCarthy's chances of remaining in the speaker's chair took a big hit earlier Tuesday when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) signaled that Democrats woulddo nothing to help salvage the speaker's chair, vowing instead to vote in favor of his ouster.
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Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday that "we are not voting in any way that will help Republicans."
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