U.S. easing offshore oil and gas drilling rules

NEW ORLEANS — The Trump administration is easing rules imposed on offshore oil and gas drilling six years after the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

The decision won immediate praise from an offshore drilling group, but environmentalists said it would increase the risk of future disasters.

The changes, which will take effect Dec. 27, come as the administration seeks to expand offshore drilling and has scrapped an Obama-era policy to protect oceans and the Great Lakes.

A 48-page notice by the Bureau of Safety and Envi- ronmental Enforcement published Friday in the Federal Register said “certain provisions ... created potentially unduly burdensome requirements for oil and natural gas production operators without meaningfully increasing safety of the workers or protection of the environment.”