Environmental groups at odds with the Trump administration over its offshore drilling plans have objected to the government’s tally of public comments so far, arguing it is an undercount.
Last week, the administration closed a 60-day public comment period on its five-year offshore leasing proposal, which lays out plans to increase oil and gas drilling on the outer continental shelf, including in long off-limits areas like the coast of California.
A comment portal on a federal website managed by the General Services Administration listed around 4,900 comments submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an Interior Department agency that handles offshore oil and gas permitting.
Environmental groups have disputed that tally, arguing the number of people who wrote in is much higher.
