Trump’s crude politics

Oil prices are in a prolonged slump, gasoline demand is weak, and the international oil cartel is limiting supply. U.S. oil production, buoyed by relatively recent advances in drilling technology, is high and rising. And American oil companies are doing fine, thanks: Exxon Mobil just beat expectations by announcing $4 billion in profits in the first quarter of this year.

It’s against this incongruous backdrop that President Trump ordered a potential expansion of oil drilling off California and other coastal areas Friday, attempting to reverse a drilling ban ordered by his predecessor. Never mind that Californians are overwhelmingly against more offshore oil exploration, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wanly acknowledged of his wife’s native Santa Barbara. “A lot of people don’t like it out there,” Zinke said — a mild way to characterize sentiment in the region, which in 1969 suffered what was then the worst oil spoil in U.S. history, leading to landmark environmental legislation.

Given California law and public opinion, Trump’s order could have a greater effect off Alaska, a longstanding battleground of oil interests and environmentalists where more residents favor drilling. However, Royal Dutch Shell abandoned an Arctic project in 2015, and most of the growth in domestic oil production has been in rich interior shale formations rather than offshore.

But Trump’s order is far more about drill-baby-drill symbolism than practical necessity. Here’s hoping its consequences will be as insubstantial as its intent.