紐時賞析／川普擬開放鑽探10億英畝水域

一艘石油鑽探船去年4月在路易斯安那州沿海墨西哥灣水域航行。紐約時報

A Billion Acres Of U.S. Waters Can Be Drilled

川普擬開放鑽探10億英畝水域

The Trump administration Thursday announced a plan to allow new oil and gas drilling across nearly 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters, including a remote region off Alaska in the high Arctic where drilling has never before taken place.

川普政府週四宣佈，計劃允許在美國近13億英畝的沿海水域進行新的石油和天然氣鑽探行動，包括先前從未進行過鑽探的阿拉斯加北極高緯度偏遠地區。

The plan is one of President Donald Trump’s most significant steps yet to increase the production of fossil fuels, the burning of which is dangerously heating the planet.

這項計劃是總統川普爲增加化石燃料產量所採取的重大措施之一，而燃燒化石燃料正危險地加劇地球暖化。

It comes at the same time that dozens of countries have been calling for a phaseout of oil, gas and coal at the United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil, an event that the United States is skipping this year.

同時，數十國在巴西貝倫聯合國氣候大會呼籲逐步淘汰石油、天然氣和煤，而美國今年缺席大會。

Under the proposal, made public Thursday, the Interior Department would hold seven lease sales through 2031 for the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump calls the Gulf of America. The agency would also auction drilling rights off the California coast for the first time in roughly four decades, teeing up a clash with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has promised to block oil drilling there and has emerged as one of Trump’s chief adversaries.

週四公開的提案指出，內政部將在2031年前舉行7次墨西哥灣租賃權拍賣，川普堅稱墨西哥灣爲美國灣。該部也將拍賣加州外海的鑽探權，是近40年首次，與加州州長紐森正面衝突。民主黨籍的紐森曾承諾阻止在加州沿海鑽探石油，且已是川普的主要對手之一。

In a notable omission, the plan would not allow drilling in areas of the Atlantic Ocean off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, Republican-led states where leaders worry about possible oil spills and want to block drilling along their coasts.

值得注意的是，不允許在佛州、喬治亞州和南卡州大西洋沿岸鑽探。這些都是由共和黨執政的州，擔心漏油影響觀光與漁業。

The move reverses the stance taken by the Biden administration, which held the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in U.S. history, part of its effort to reduce future fossil fuel production to address climate change.

這徹底推翻拜登創下史上最少海上油氣租賃拍賣紀錄，當時目的是減少未來化石燃料產量以因應氣候變遷。

Trump’s tax and spending law, enacted in July, mandated at least 36 oil and gas lease sales in federal waters, including 30 in the Gulf and six in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act also requires the government to update a plan for offshore leases every five years.

川普7月頒佈的稅收和支出法案，強制在聯邦水域進行至少36項石油和天然氣鑽探權租賃拍賣，其中30項在墨西哥灣，其餘6項在阿拉斯加的庫克灣。1953年的「外大陸棚土地法案」也規定政府每5年更新一次離岸租賃計劃。

Oil industry leaders embraced the plan, noting that drilling generates billions of dollars in annual tax revenue for the federal government as well as state and local governments.

石油業者開心表示，鑽探可爲聯邦與地方政府帶來數百億美元稅收。

Environmentalists said more drilling would unleash more greenhouse gases. Scientists say the world needs to move away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible in order to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.

環保人士表示，鑽探增加會釋放更多溫室氣體。科學家說，爲避免全球暖化最糟後果，世界需儘快擺脫對化石燃料依賴。

文／Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman，譯／羅方妤

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