The Trump administration is delaying its bid to expand oil drilling to new U.S. waters until after the 2020 election in response to opposition from coastal Republicans and a legal defeat, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Administration officials are worried that the president and Republican leaders in the southeast U.S. would lose votes if they pushed forward with the plan to sell new drilling rights in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing confidential discussions. Procedural missteps and a court ruling jeopardizing new oil drilling opportunities in Arctic waters also complicated the effort.
