Donald Trump's administration has announced plans to vastly expand oil and gas drilling in nearly all US coastal waters, reversing protections in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific.

Environmentalists, and some Republicans, sharply criticised the move which is part of Mr Trump's "American Energy Dominance" plan.

It would be the most expansive US offshore drilling proposal in decades, including opening up federal waters off the California coast for the first time in more than 30 years.

The US Interior Department said the proposal called for 47 lease sales over five years, a radical increase from the level allowed under President Barack Obama.

Weeks before leaving office Mr Obama had banned new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, protecting 115 million acres of waters off Alaska and 3.8 million acres in the Atlantic.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the new five-year plan would make over 90 per cent of the outer continental shelf’s total acreage available for leasing.