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US Government Rolls Back Environmental Protections for Energy Drilling · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Just when I thought the last episode I
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  did was bad enough where I talked about
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  opening up marine protected
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  areas in the US to fisheries,
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  now we have opening up and rolling back
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  regulations, all regulations, as many as
• 0:15
  possible, to ensure that
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  energy needs can be met in the US.
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  We're going to talk about why this is
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  such a bad idea and why I'm not surprised
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  again of the rollback of regulations by
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  this administration,
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  but what it can do on this episode of the
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  How to Protect the Ocean
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  podcast. Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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  exciting episode of the How to Protect
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  the Ocean podcast. I'm
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  your host, Andrew Bowen.
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  And this is the podcast where you find
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  out what's happening with the ocean, how
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  you can speak up for the ocean,
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  and what you can do to live for a better
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  ocean by taking action.
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  I am here out of my office and in sunny
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  Negril, Jamaica on vacation with my
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  family and some friends.
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  I have a lovely time here. It is
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  beautiful. This beach
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  is absolutely amazing.
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  I'll share some pictures as we go through
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  this B roll here as I'm talking.
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  But today we're going to be talking about
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  the rollbacks that have come back, come
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  through on the White House website,
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  where we're talking this rollback of all
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  regulations that have to do with impeding
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  the development of
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  energy needs for the US,
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  including oil drilling and natural gas
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  drilling. This has been a contentious
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  issue for a long time before Donald Trump
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  got in the first time
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  and for a long time.
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  There's a reason why a lot of these
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  regulations have been put into place. The
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  Marine Mammal Protection Act and others,
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  Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, a lot of
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  these different mags and Stevenson's Act.
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  All these regulations have been put into
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  place to protect the environment because
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  in the past in the 70s, especially when a
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  lot of these were put in, we started to
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  see a decline in fisheries.
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  We started to see in fish stocks, we
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  started to see a decline in marine
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  mammals in general and even like large
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  sharks and so forth.
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  So putting together all those protections
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  brought back the sharks like the great
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  white shark brought back a lot of the
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  fish that would ensure that sea lines
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  were able to be fed and marine mammals were able to be fed.
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  And they could prosper and that's what
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  brought the great white sharks back along
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  the west coast anyway.
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  And so when we see regulations like this
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  be rolled back, we forget the past. We
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  forget why they were
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  put in the first place.
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  And now with energy needs being so high,
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  especially with this US administration
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  with their drill baby drill type of
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  motto, they don't care about environment.
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  They just want the least amount of
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  regulations. And this will happen. I've
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  explained the last episode. This is what
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  happens with developers
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  is they want to go fast.
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  They want to move as quickly as possible
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  to satisfy their investors and they want
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  to make as much money as possible.
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  They don't care what gets in their way,
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  especially with the environment. We've
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  seen that with oil companies
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  before. They just don't care.
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  They know that oil spills are a part of
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  their business plan and they are OK with
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  it and they just don't care.
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  And it's frustrating as someone who loves
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  the ocean so much, someone who loves the
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  planet so much, anyone of you probably
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  say, hey, you know what, this sucks.
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  This is not fun to see. And it's not fun
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  to see any of this happen, which is why
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  it's so important to vote and to
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  understand who you're voting for and to
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  make sure that you're voting for the
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  right people that are going
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  to protect the environment.
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  Doesn't matter. Each side of the aisle
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  has people that want to protect the
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  ocean, want to protect the environment.
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  They're hunters, they're fishers. They
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  enjoy the environment just like anybody
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  else. Their kids enjoy the environment.
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  But we need to vote for the same people,
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  right, for the people that want to
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  protect the environment and understand
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  that you can develop the economy and you
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  can protect the economy as
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  well as protect the ocean.
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  Right. It's really that simple and
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  protect the planet. However, we just seem
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  to divorce the two every single time and
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  it sucks. It sucks to see.
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  But this is what's going to happen
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  essentially now, the way they're doing
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  it. And I'll link to the website where
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  this information can be found.
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  But essentially, you're looking at a way
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  of sun setting these regulations. So not
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  just eliminating the regulations
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  outright, but essentially every five
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  years, they will be these regulations,
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  environmental regulations, especially get
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  in the way of energy will be reviewed by
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  the federal department and which is in
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  charge of this type of regulation.
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  So say the Marine Mail Protection Act
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  will be monitored by, I believe it's NOAA
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  or some division within NOAA on a
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  vacation here. I haven't done all the
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  research. I've just tried to
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  react to this type of news.
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  But regardless, they'll roll back every
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  five years. They'll wonder, hey, is this
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  really worth it? Is this going to be in
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  the way of other regulations? Do we allow
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  it to continue for another five years? Do
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  we revisit it in five years?
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  Do we make it stronger or roll back some
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  of those regulations to allow for maybe
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  we'll protect a little bit of the marine
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  mammals that are not in the way of energy
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  needs and which is drilling and so and
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  seismic surveys to for oil exploration or
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  do we just let it go?
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  Do we just not renew it? That's the case
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  every five years for these environmental
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  regulations, which is very difficult.
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  Now, there are some stipulations. I
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  believe the Clean Water and Clean Air Act
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  cannot be just taken away
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  by executive order alone.
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  There are some legal frameworks within
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  there. And I'm sure there's some other
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  legal frameworks with other protections.
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  But there is somebody that can be taken
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  out through this executive order. And
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  they will be looking at Endangered
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  Species Act, Max and Stevenson's Act,
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  Marine Mail Protection Act.
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  These all can be rolled back or
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  deregulated. And just based on who's in
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  charge of each department, I wouldn't be
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  surprised to see this happen within the
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  next any amount of years, even next few
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  months, who knows? It doesn't mean that
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  every five years, I think it's a maximum
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  of five years. It sounds like each of
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  these regulations can be visited at any
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  point within those five years. So, you
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  know, be ready, be ready to see some of
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  these regulations go down very quickly.
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  Or be reviewed very quickly within the
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  next few months. It seems like this
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  organization is this administration is
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  moving very, very quickly. And guess
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  who's in charge of looking after this
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  doge Department of Government Efficiency,
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  I think is what it's called. But doge is
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  in charge. So they're going to lead with
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  the department in question that has
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  managed the regulation and they're going
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  to decide whether this is going to be in
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  the way and slow down the process of oil
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  exploration and oil drilling. And this is
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  what's going to happen for the next five years.
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  And this is what's going to happen for
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  the next at least four years unless
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  midterms can change some things. But this
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  is what's going to happen. And we need to
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  hear your voice. This is where it counts
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  for all the American citizens that want
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  to change and want to make sure that the
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  environment your ocean is protected and
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  the animals that live within is
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  protected. This is your chance to stand
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  up to a government that wants to
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  deregulate, wants to defund a lot of
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  environmental initiatives. And this is
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  just not cool. We just need
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  to make sure that we stop this.
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  I'm not an American citizen, but
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  definitely want this to stop. And I don't
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  want these regulations, the hard work
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  that a lot of people put in to protect
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  the ocean to protect the environment. I
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  don't want to see this happen where it's
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  all this work, all this funding, all this
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  protection of the ocean
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  goes out by the wayside.
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  And we're going to see degradation and
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  rain protected areas have been opened up,
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  like as I mentioned in the last episode.
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  And now we're going to start to see it
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  get worse. Right. We're going to start to
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  see, you know, the Remap Protection Act
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  that maybe disappear. Some of the
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  Magnuson-Stevens Act, rollbacks, a lot of
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  regulations either deregulated or roll
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  back or gutted. It is going to be gutting
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  just to see how this portrays in the
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  future. Short term gain, right? Not
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  looking for long term prosperity.
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  And so we'll see what happens, but I'd
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  love to hear what you think. I'd love to
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  hear your thoughts on this. Do you think
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  that we should be deregulating every one
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  of these protections and every one of
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  these regulations? Do you think we should
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  get rid of them? Do you think most of
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  them will be sunsetted after a while?
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  They'll just be like, hey, we're done. We
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  want to make sure we can drill.
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  The disappointing part here is the fact
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  that it's going to take a long time to
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  put these acts back. That's where it
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  becomes a real hardship because I've seen
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  it happen before. We had it here in
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  Canada. They gutted the Fisheries Act.
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  They changed it. But now it's for oil and
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  gas needs. It took a long time before the
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  next government can put it back in place.
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  They did make it stronger. They did have
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  a consultant process and a review
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  process, but it took about five or six
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  years to put it back. And that was
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  difficult during that time.
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  And so we're going to have a lot of
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  development that probably happened in the
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  amount of fish habitat and the amount of
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  fisheries and just environmental habitat
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  that was degraded during that process was
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  probably ridiculous. We still don't even
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  know the effects yet. And that was 10
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  years ago. So this is a warning from
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  Canada saying, hey, this could be really
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  bad in the future. We can lose a lot of
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  animals. We can lose a lot of endangered
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  species during this time when we
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  deregulate. There's a reason why these
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  regulations are in there for the first
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  place in the first place and to
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  deregulate them is not good. So anyway, we're going to be doing a lot of things.
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  That's it for me. I'd love to hear your
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  thoughts on this. Let me know in the
• 9:00
  comments below. Or if you are listening
• 9:02
  to this on just audio, let me know how
• 9:05
  you feel. Hit me up on DMS on Instagram
• 9:08
  at how to protect the ocean. That's at
• 9:10
  how to protect the ocean. Or you can
• 9:11
  email me by just going to
• 9:13
  speakupforblue.com for slash contact.
• 9:16
  Go to the contact us page and just fill
• 9:18
  out the form. It goes right to my email.
• 9:19
  Love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank
• 9:21
  you so much for listening to this episode
• 9:22
  of how to protect the ocean podcast from
• 9:24
  the world. Jamaica. I'm your host,
• 9:26
  Andrew. Have a great day. We'll talk to
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  you next time and happy conservation.