Lawyer: Trump exceeded power by reversing Obama drilling ban

[Judi Lynn]

Mark Thiessen, Associated Press
Updated 7:27 pm CST, Friday, November 9, 2018

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump exceeded his power when he signed an executive order reversing a ban on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of underwater canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, an attorney argued in federal court on Friday.

Erik Grafe, an Alaska-based attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, said Trump acted without the authority of Congress or the Constitution when he reversed President Barack Obama's drilling ban.

Grafe, the lead attorney in a lawsuit backed by nearly a dozen environmental groups, contends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act only allows
presidents to remove lands under consideration for development, not add them back in. Only Congress has that authority, he said.

"President Trump has attempted unilaterally to undo protections that President Obama put in place. And our argument is that that action is unlawful because he lacks constitutional authority and he lacks authority from Congress," Grafe told reporters outside the courtroom in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Lawyer-Trump-exceeded-power-by-reversing-Obama-13378900.php

[MyOwnPeace]

1. This is a good one to follow..........

we can get a better idea about who has oversight (certainly not today's repugs!). We just have to hope that the argument doesn't end up in front of a tRump judge!