A public information session Thursday on the Trump Administration’s proposal to open up the nation’s coastal waters to fossil fuel extraction has been canceled.
January 22, 2018 — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A decade ago, when Rhode Island set out to find the most appropriate places for energy development in its coastal waters, offshore drilling was never contemplated as a possibility.
But now after creating a landmark ocean zoning plan and using it to guide the development of the first offshore wind farm in the United States, Rhode Island is facing the possibility of fossil fuel companies drilling for oil and gas off the coast.
On Thursday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was scheduled to hold a public information session in Providence on the Trump administration’s proposal to lift Obama-era regulations and open up the nation’s coastal waters to fossil fuel extraction.
But on Monday morning that session was canceled.
The meeting was to be one of nearly two dozen scheduled in the coming weeks around the country.
The drilling proposal has met with widespread opposition from elected officials and environmental groups in Rhode Island.
Read the full story at the Providence Journal