April 29, 2025 • 9 mins
Energy policy shifts in the U.S. are sparking concern as the government rolls back environmental regulations to fast-track oil and gas drilling. In this episode, we examine how these rollbacks could jeopardize ecosystems, especially marine environments, and undermine efforts to transition to clean energy sources.
Environmental protections have long served as safeguards for biodiversity and climate resilience, but these new changes prioritize short-term energy gains over long-term sustainability. We discuss the potential consequences for marine protected areas, public health, and climate policy, and what you can do to take action.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Just when I thought the last episode I
did was bad enough where I talked about
opening up marine protected
areas in the US to fisheries,
now we have opening up and rolling back
regulations, all regulations, as many as
possible, to ensure that
energy needs can be met in the US.
We're going to talk about why this is
such a bad idea and why I'm not surprised
(00:24):
again of the rollback of regulations by
this administration,
but what it can do on this episode of the
How to Protect the Ocean
podcast. Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How to Protect
the Ocean podcast. I'm
your host, Andrew Bowen.
And this is the podcast where you find
out what's happening with the ocean, how
you can speak up for the ocean,
and what you can do to live for a better
(00:46):
ocean by taking action.
I am here out of my office and in sunny
Negril, Jamaica on vacation with my
family and some friends.
I have a lovely time here. It is
beautiful. This beach
is absolutely amazing.
I'll share some pictures as we go through
this B roll here as I'm talking.
But today we're going to be talking about
(01:06):
the rollbacks that have come back, come
through on the White House website,
where we're talking this rollback of all
regulations that have to do with impeding
the development of
energy needs for the US,
including oil drilling and natural gas
drilling. This has been a contentious
issue for a long time before Donald Trump
(01:28):
got in the first time
and for a long time.
There's a reason why a lot of these
regulations have been put into place. The
Marine Mammal Protection Act and others,
Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, a lot of
these different mags and Stevenson's Act.
All these regulations have been put into
place to protect the environment because
in the past in the 70s, especially when a
lot of these were put in, we started to
(01:49):
see a decline in fisheries.
We started to see in fish stocks, we
started to see a decline in marine
mammals in general and even like large
sharks and so forth.
So putting together all those protections
brought back the sharks like the great
white shark brought back a lot of the
fish that would ensure that sea lines
were able to be fed and marine mammals were able to be fed.
(02:10):
And they could prosper and that's what
brought the great white sharks back along
the west coast anyway.
And so when we see regulations like this
be rolled back, we forget the past. We
forget why they were
put in the first place.
And now with energy needs being so high,
especially with this US administration
with their drill baby drill type of
(02:30):
motto, they don't care about environment.
They just want the least amount of
regulations. And this will happen. I've
explained the last episode. This is what
happens with developers
is they want to go fast.
They want to move as quickly as possible
to satisfy their investors and they want
to make as much money as possible.
They don't care what gets in their way,
especially with the environment. We've
seen that with oil companies
before. They just don't care.
(02:51):
They know that oil spills are a part of
their business plan and they are OK with
it and they just don't care.
And it's frustrating as someone who loves
the ocean so much, someone who loves the
planet so much, anyone of you probably
say, hey, you know what, this sucks.
This is not fun to see. And it's not fun
to see any of this happen, which is why
it's so important to vote and to
(03:12):
understand who you're voting for and to
make sure that you're voting for the
right people that are going
to protect the environment.
Doesn't matter. Each side of the aisle
has people that want to protect the
ocean, want to protect the environment.
They're hunters, they're fishers. They
enjoy the environment just like anybody
else. Their kids enjoy the environment.
But we need to vote for the same people,
right, for the people that want to
(03:34):
protect the environment and understand
that you can develop the economy and you
can protect the economy as
well as protect the ocean.
Right. It's really that simple and
protect the planet. However, we just seem
to divorce the two every single time and
it sucks. It sucks to see.
But this is what's going to happen
essentially now, the way they're doing
it. And I'll link to the website where
(03:55):
this information can be found.
But essentially, you're looking at a way
of sun setting these regulations. So not
just eliminating the regulations
outright, but essentially every five
years, they will be these regulations,
environmental regulations, especially get
in the way of energy will be reviewed by
the federal department and which is in
charge of this type of regulation.
(04:17):
So say the Marine Mail Protection Act
will be monitored by, I believe it's NOAA
or some division within NOAA on a
vacation here. I haven't done all the
research. I've just tried to
react to this type of news.
But regardless, they'll roll back every
five years. They'll wonder, hey, is this
really worth it? Is this going to be in
the way of other regulations? Do we allow
(04:37):
it to continue for another five years? Do
we revisit it in five years?
Do we make it stronger or roll back some
of those regulations to allow for maybe
we'll protect a little bit of the marine
mammals that are not in the way of energy
needs and which is drilling and so and
seismic surveys to for oil exploration or
do we just let it go?
Do we just not renew it? That's the case
(04:59):
every five years for these environmental
regulations, which is very difficult.
Now, there are some stipulations. I
believe the Clean Water and Clean Air Act
cannot be just taken away
by executive order alone.
There are some legal frameworks within
there. And I'm sure there's some other
legal frameworks with other protections.
But there is somebody that can be taken
out through this executive order. And
(05:20):
they will be looking at Endangered
Species Act, Max and Stevenson's Act,
Marine Mail Protection Act.
These all can be rolled back or
deregulated. And just based on who's in
charge of each department, I wouldn't be
surprised to see this happen within the
next any amount of years, even next few
months, who knows? It doesn't mean that
(05:41):
every five years, I think it's a maximum
of five years. It sounds like each of
these regulations can be visited at any
point within those five years. So, you
know, be ready, be ready to see some of
these regulations go down very quickly.
Or be reviewed very quickly within the
next few months. It seems like this
organization is this administration is
(06:01):
moving very, very quickly. And guess
who's in charge of looking after this
doge Department of Government Efficiency,
I think is what it's called. But doge is
in charge. So they're going to lead with
the department in question that has
managed the regulation and they're going
to decide whether this is going to be in
the way and slow down the process of oil
exploration and oil drilling. And this is
(06:22):
what's going to happen for the next five years.
And this is what's going to happen for
the next at least four years unless
midterms can change some things. But this
is what's going to happen. And we need to
hear your voice. This is where it counts
for all the American citizens that want
to change and want to make sure that the
environment your ocean is protected and
the animals that live within is
protected. This is your chance to stand
(06:42):
up to a government that wants to
deregulate, wants to defund a lot of
environmental initiatives. And this is
just not cool. We just need
to make sure that we stop this.
I'm not an American citizen, but
definitely want this to stop. And I don't
want these regulations, the hard work
that a lot of people put in to protect
the ocean to protect the environment. I
(07:03):
don't want to see this happen where it's
all this work, all this funding, all this
protection of the ocean
goes out by the wayside.
And we're going to see degradation and
rain protected areas have been opened up,
like as I mentioned in the last episode.
And now we're going to start to see it
get worse. Right. We're going to start to
see, you know, the Remap Protection Act
(07:23):
that maybe disappear. Some of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, rollbacks, a lot of
regulations either deregulated or roll
back or gutted. It is going to be gutting
just to see how this portrays in the
future. Short term gain, right? Not
looking for long term prosperity.
And so we'll see what happens, but I'd
love to hear what you think. I'd love to
(07:44):
hear your thoughts on this. Do you think
that we should be deregulating every one
of these protections and every one of
these regulations? Do you think we should
get rid of them? Do you think most of
them will be sunsetted after a while?
They'll just be like, hey, we're done. We
want to make sure we can drill.
The disappointing part here is the fact
that it's going to take a long time to
put these acts back. That's where it
becomes a real hardship because I've seen
(08:07):
it happen before. We had it here in
Canada. They gutted the Fisheries Act.
They changed it. But now it's for oil and
gas needs. It took a long time before the
next government can put it back in place.
They did make it stronger. They did have
a consultant process and a review
process, but it took about five or six
years to put it back. And that was
difficult during that time.
And so we're going to have a lot of
(08:27):
development that probably happened in the
amount of fish habitat and the amount of
fisheries and just environmental habitat
that was degraded during that process was
probably ridiculous. We still don't even
know the effects yet. And that was 10
years ago. So this is a warning from
Canada saying, hey, this could be really
bad in the future. We can lose a lot of
animals. We can lose a lot of endangered
(08:47):
species during this time when we
deregulate. There's a reason why these
regulations are in there for the first
place in the first place and to
deregulate them is not good. So anyway, we're going to be doing a lot of things.
That's it for me. I'd love to hear your
thoughts on this. Let me know in the
comments below. Or if you are listening
to this on just audio, let me know how
you feel. Hit me up on DMS on Instagram
(09:08):
at how to protect the ocean. That's at
how to protect the ocean. Or you can
email me by just going to
speakupforblue.com for slash contact.
Go to the contact us page and just fill
out the form. It goes right to my email.
Love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank
you so much for listening to this episode
of how to protect the ocean podcast from
the world. Jamaica. I'm your host,
Andrew. Have a great day. We'll talk to
you next time and happy conservation.
Just when I thought the last episode I
did was bad enough where I talked about
opening up marine protected
areas in the US to fisheries,
now we have opening up and rolling back
regulations, all regulations, as many as
possible, to ensure that
energy needs can be met in the US.
We're going to talk about why this is
such a bad idea and why I'm not surprised
(00:24):
again of the rollback of regulations by
this administration,
but what it can do on this episode of the
How to Protect the Ocean
podcast. Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How to Protect
the Ocean podcast. I'm
your host, Andrew Bowen.
And this is the podcast where you find
out what's happening with the ocean, how
you can speak up for the ocean,
and what you can do to live for a better
(00:46):
ocean by taking action.
I am here out of my office and in sunny
Negril, Jamaica on vacation with my
family and some friends.
I have a lovely time here. It is
beautiful. This beach
is absolutely amazing.
I'll share some pictures as we go through
this B roll here as I'm talking.
But today we're going to be talking about
(01:06):
the rollbacks that have come back, come
through on the White House website,
where we're talking this rollback of all
regulations that have to do with impeding
the development of
energy needs for the US,
including oil drilling and natural gas
drilling. This has been a contentious
issue for a long time before Donald Trump
(01:28):
got in the first time
and for a long time.
There's a reason why a lot of these
regulations have been put into place. The
Marine Mammal Protection Act and others,
Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, a lot of
these different mags and Stevenson's Act.
All these regulations have been put into
place to protect the environment because
in the past in the 70s, especially when a
lot of these were put in, we started to
(01:49):
see a decline in fisheries.
We started to see in fish stocks, we
started to see a decline in marine
mammals in general and even like large
sharks and so forth.
So putting together all those protections
brought back the sharks like the great
white shark brought back a lot of the
fish that would ensure that sea lines
were able to be fed and marine mammals were able to be fed.
(02:10):
And they could prosper and that's what
brought the great white sharks back along
the west coast anyway.
And so when we see regulations like this
be rolled back, we forget the past. We
forget why they were
put in the first place.
And now with energy needs being so high,
especially with this US administration
with their drill baby drill type of
(02:30):
motto, they don't care about environment.
They just want the least amount of
regulations. And this will happen. I've
explained the last episode. This is what
happens with developers
is they want to go fast.
They want to move as quickly as possible
to satisfy their investors and they want
to make as much money as possible.
They don't care what gets in their way,
especially with the environment. We've
seen that with oil companies
before. They just don't care.
(02:51):
They know that oil spills are a part of
their business plan and they are OK with
it and they just don't care.
And it's frustrating as someone who loves
the ocean so much, someone who loves the
planet so much, anyone of you probably
say, hey, you know what, this sucks.
This is not fun to see. And it's not fun
to see any of this happen, which is why
it's so important to vote and to
(03:12):
understand who you're voting for and to
make sure that you're voting for the
right people that are going
to protect the environment.
Doesn't matter. Each side of the aisle
has people that want to protect the
ocean, want to protect the environment.
They're hunters, they're fishers. They
enjoy the environment just like anybody
else. Their kids enjoy the environment.
But we need to vote for the same people,
right, for the people that want to
(03:34):
protect the environment and understand
that you can develop the economy and you
can protect the economy as
well as protect the ocean.
Right. It's really that simple and
protect the planet. However, we just seem
to divorce the two every single time and
it sucks. It sucks to see.
But this is what's going to happen
essentially now, the way they're doing
it. And I'll link to the website where
(03:55):
this information can be found.
But essentially, you're looking at a way
of sun setting these regulations. So not
just eliminating the regulations
outright, but essentially every five
years, they will be these regulations,
environmental regulations, especially get
in the way of energy will be reviewed by
the federal department and which is in
charge of this type of regulation.
(04:17):
So say the Marine Mail Protection Act
will be monitored by, I believe it's NOAA
or some division within NOAA on a
vacation here. I haven't done all the
research. I've just tried to
react to this type of news.
But regardless, they'll roll back every
five years. They'll wonder, hey, is this
really worth it? Is this going to be in
the way of other regulations? Do we allow
(04:37):
it to continue for another five years? Do
we revisit it in five years?
Do we make it stronger or roll back some
of those regulations to allow for maybe
we'll protect a little bit of the marine
mammals that are not in the way of energy
needs and which is drilling and so and
seismic surveys to for oil exploration or
do we just let it go?
Do we just not renew it? That's the case
(04:59):
every five years for these environmental
regulations, which is very difficult.
Now, there are some stipulations. I
believe the Clean Water and Clean Air Act
cannot be just taken away
by executive order alone.
There are some legal frameworks within
there. And I'm sure there's some other
legal frameworks with other protections.
But there is somebody that can be taken
out through this executive order. And
(05:20):
they will be looking at Endangered
Species Act, Max and Stevenson's Act,
Marine Mail Protection Act.
These all can be rolled back or
deregulated. And just based on who's in
charge of each department, I wouldn't be
surprised to see this happen within the
next any amount of years, even next few
months, who knows? It doesn't mean that
(05:41):
every five years, I think it's a maximum
of five years. It sounds like each of
these regulations can be visited at any
point within those five years. So, you
know, be ready, be ready to see some of
these regulations go down very quickly.
Or be reviewed very quickly within the
next few months. It seems like this
organization is this administration is
(06:01):
moving very, very quickly. And guess
who's in charge of looking after this
doge Department of Government Efficiency,
I think is what it's called. But doge is
in charge. So they're going to lead with
the department in question that has
managed the regulation and they're going
to decide whether this is going to be in
the way and slow down the process of oil
exploration and oil drilling. And this is
(06:22):
what's going to happen for the next five years.
And this is what's going to happen for
the next at least four years unless
midterms can change some things. But this
is what's going to happen. And we need to
hear your voice. This is where it counts
for all the American citizens that want
to change and want to make sure that the
environment your ocean is protected and
the animals that live within is
protected. This is your chance to stand
(06:42):
up to a government that wants to
deregulate, wants to defund a lot of
environmental initiatives. And this is
just not cool. We just need
to make sure that we stop this.
I'm not an American citizen, but
definitely want this to stop. And I don't
want these regulations, the hard work
that a lot of people put in to protect
the ocean to protect the environment. I
(07:03):
don't want to see this happen where it's
all this work, all this funding, all this
protection of the ocean
goes out by the wayside.
And we're going to see degradation and
rain protected areas have been opened up,
like as I mentioned in the last episode.
And now we're going to start to see it
get worse. Right. We're going to start to
see, you know, the Remap Protection Act
(07:23):
that maybe disappear. Some of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, rollbacks, a lot of
regulations either deregulated or roll
back or gutted. It is going to be gutting
just to see how this portrays in the
future. Short term gain, right? Not
looking for long term prosperity.
And so we'll see what happens, but I'd
love to hear what you think. I'd love to
(07:44):
hear your thoughts on this. Do you think
that we should be deregulating every one
of these protections and every one of
these regulations? Do you think we should
get rid of them? Do you think most of
them will be sunsetted after a while?
They'll just be like, hey, we're done. We
want to make sure we can drill.
The disappointing part here is the fact
that it's going to take a long time to
put these acts back. That's where it
becomes a real hardship because I've seen
(08:07):
it happen before. We had it here in
Canada. They gutted the Fisheries Act.
They changed it. But now it's for oil and
gas needs. It took a long time before the
next government can put it back in place.
They did make it stronger. They did have
a consultant process and a review
process, but it took about five or six
years to put it back. And that was
difficult during that time.
And so we're going to have a lot of
(08:27):
development that probably happened in the
amount of fish habitat and the amount of
fisheries and just environmental habitat
that was degraded during that process was
probably ridiculous. We still don't even
know the effects yet. And that was 10
years ago. So this is a warning from
Canada saying, hey, this could be really
bad in the future. We can lose a lot of
animals. We can lose a lot of endangered
(08:47):
species during this time when we
deregulate. There's a reason why these
regulations are in there for the first
place in the first place and to
deregulate them is not good. So anyway, we're going to be doing a lot of things.
That's it for me. I'd love to hear your
thoughts on this. Let me know in the
comments below. Or if you are listening
to this on just audio, let me know how
you feel. Hit me up on DMS on Instagram
(09:08):
at how to protect the ocean. That's at
how to protect the ocean. Or you can
email me by just going to
speakupforblue.com for slash contact.
Go to the contact us page and just fill
out the form. It goes right to my email.
Love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank
you so much for listening to this episode
of how to protect the ocean podcast from
the world. Jamaica. I'm your host,
Andrew. Have a great day. We'll talk to
you next time and happy conservation.
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