In 2016, the Obama administration blocked drilling on about 94 percent of the outer continental shelf - the submerged offshore area between state coastal waters and the deep ocean.

The Zinke's plan follows data released by the biggest oil industry lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, which proclaimed Thursday that oil and gas support 10.3 million U.S. jobs and added 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars to the nation's economy in 2017.

Thursday, the Institute published five separate articles on its website, saying the economies of Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, would benefit from the proposed drilling.

However, almost immediately, the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia officially announced they opposed the plan.

RESISTANCE ON ROAD

Resistance to the Trump plan has flowed past upcoming state government roadblocks as 60 leading environmental groups signed a statement this week and are sharpening their swords.

"Litigation is definitely on the table but we have to get through the public process first," Friends of the Earth (FOE) spokesperson Marcie Keever told Xinhua.

It is predicted that the public input process, "with hearings in every state where there is drilling proposed," will dominate American media coverage during the next 90 days, according to Keever.

"And, after more Trump bashing, the state governments will rise up and slap him down...again," Richardson said.

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