"The new federal office will undo a change made after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Critics say it could reduce environmental oversight."
"The Trump administration is creating a new office that critics say could weaken the environmental oversight of oil drilling and seabed mining in territorial waters.
The new agency, the Marine Minerals Administration, will be formed by reunifying two offices that had been split up after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in an effort to increase environmental oversight of the energy industry and prevent future oil disasters. After the split, the Interior Department’s oil-leasing activities were separated from environmental regulation and financial management.
The move is “worrisome because it has the potential of bringing things back where they were, where there was this inherent conflict of interest between promotion of offshore oil and gas, and oversight safety,” according to Donald Boesch, emeritus professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
At a Wednesday hearing on President Trump’s budget proposal for next year, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that recombining the two offices would cut red tape that has held up new energy projects. “These unification efforts will streamline bureaucracy,” Mr. Burgum said."
Sachi Kitajima Mulkey reports for the New York Times April 23, 2026.
