A proposal to search for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf will be the subject of two public meetings in northern New England next month.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is hosting meetings about the proposal all over the country this winter. The meetings follow up on an executive order from April 2017 by President Donald Trump entitled "Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy."

The BOEM says the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program establishes a schedule of oil and gas lease sales. Public meetings using an "open-house format" about the leasing program are scheduled for March 5 in Concord, New Hampshire, and March 7 in Augusta, Maine.

The meetings began Jan. 16 in Annapolis, Maryland, and end March 8 in Montgomery, Alabama.