The oil and gas industry has largely been supportive of the Trump administration’s efforts to deregulate energy. But now, as POLITICO reports,some in the petroleum realm are growing worried that the administration’s no-holds-barred approach could backfire.
Some insiders worry that removing restrictions on fracking and offshore drilling and easing pollution restrictions could lead to a major environmental disaster like 2010’s BP oil spill. That spill famously sent the fossil-fuel industry into a tailspin and resulted in a major regulatory clampdown.
One industry employee put it this way: “It’s not helpful if regulations are streamlined so as to allow [a methane explosion or a spill] to happen. [. . .] We’d be painted with it as an entire industry.”
Trump’s slowness to fill key regulatory positions is also causing unease within the oil sector.
