Biden bans offshore drilling across huge area of US before Trump takes office
Getty ImagesWeeks before Donald Trump takes office, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the U.S. coastline.
The ban covers the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast near California, Oregon and Washington states and parts of the Bering Sea near Alaska.
It’s the latest in a series of last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
During the campaign, Trump promised to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production to lower the cost of natural gas, even as U.S. extraction rates have reached record highs.
During the campaign, Trump promised to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production to lower the cost of natural gas, even as U.S. extraction rates have reached record highs.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have long known: Drilling along these shores could cause irreversible damage to the places we hold dear,” Biden said in announcing the new drilling ban. And are unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.
“It’s not worth the risk.”
Trump called the ban “ridiculous” in a radio interview.
“I would lift the ban immediately,” he said. “I have the right to lift the ban immediately.”
Trump has previously said he would reverse Biden’s environmental protection and climate change policies.
For the new drilling ban, Biden is acting under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which allows the president to withdraw mineral leases and drilling areas.
The law does not give the president statutory authority to overturn the previous ban, according to a 2019 court ruling. That means a reversal would likely require action by Congress, now controlled by Trump’s Republicans.
The law also does not allow the president to revoke any area already leased for offshore drilling.
Trump himself used the law in 2020 to protect Florida’s coastal waters, despite supporting more oil and gas exploration and repeatedly using his slogan “Drill, baby, drill” during the campaign.
At the time, it was seen as an effort to get the state out of the country ahead of the 2020 U.S. election, with protections set to expire in 2032. Biden’s decision will protect the same region and has no expiration date.
The new offshore drilling ban covers more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of water.
After reports emerged last week that Biden would roll out the policy, Trump’s incoming press secretary Carolyn Leavitt called it “a shameful decision.”
She said the move was “designed to exact political revenge on the American people for authorizing President Trump to increase drilling and lower natural gas prices.”
However, environmental groups welcomed the move.
Joseph Gordon, from conservation group Oceana, said: “This is an epic victory for the oceans.
“Our precious coastal communities are now protected for future generations.”
An oil and gas industry trade group said Biden’s decision would harm U.S. energy security and should be overturned by Congress.
“We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American approach to federal leasing of energy,” said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
In 2017, during his first term, Trump sought to roll back protections for 125 million acres (50.6 million hectares) in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans under former President Barack Obama.
Two years later, a U.S. District Court ruled The bill does not allow the president to overturn a decision protections from previous administrations — meaning Trump cannot revoke Obama’s protections.
Trump, who is expected to hold his inauguration on January 20, will still seek to challenge Biden’s move. The final legal decision will likely come from the Supreme Court, which currently has a majority of Republican justices.
Environmentalists and Democrats have been calling on Biden to introduce the ban because they fear any new drilling would threaten U.S. ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
The International Energy Agency estimates that global oil and gas demand needs to fall by 5% per year to reach the target. Limit global temperature rise to 1.5°Cwhich is considered crucial to help avoid the most damaging impacts.
