Trump acts on ocean drilling

Order restarts search for oil, gas sources in Arctic and Atlantic

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday restarting exploration of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and off the Atlantic coast.

The action could set up a legal confrontation over whether the Trump administration has the power to override a drilling ban in those areas that President Barack Obama instituted in the final weeks of his administration.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said he would challenge the order if he deems it necessary.

Trump called his executive action “another historic step” toward increased domestic energy production.

“Renewed offshore energy production will reduce the cost of energy, create countless good jobs, and make America more secure and far more energy-independent,” he said at a White House news conference.

The order directs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review locations available for offshore drilling under a five-year plan Obama signed in November. The plan blocked new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean in areas from Virginia to South Carolina.

Trump’s order could also reopen the