Trump to Appoint Oil and Gas Lobbyist to Oversee Offshore Drilling
WASHINGTON — The Trump Administration is expected to appoint Matt Giacona, a longtime lobbyist for the National Oceans Industries Association, to head the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The previous head of the Bureau, Walter Cruickshank, who led the office for more than two decades, will retire, according to reports. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is responsible for the oil and gas leasing on the outer continental shelf. In response, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“Trump Appointing a Big Oil lobbyist to oversee deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico shows that the administration’s goal is to empower and enrich powerful corporations at the expense of everyone and everything else. Placing an oil lobbyist in charge of offshore oil and gas leasing unleashes incompetence, not dominance. This continues the clear trend of Trump turning federal agencies and the public good into profit opportunities for powerful corporate interests.
“Deepwater oil and gas drilling is extremely dangerous and has extremely high stakes. Overseeing it requires balance and nuance that a longtime industry lobbyist doesn’t have and should never be trusted to exercise.”
# # #