US President Joe Biden banned new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of America’s coastline weeks before Donald Trump took office. The ban covers the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast of California, Oregon, and Washington, and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
It is the latest in a series of last-minute climate policy moves by the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Trump has vowed to revoke the ban when he takes office immediately, but he may find it difficult to do so under US law.
During his campaign, Trump promised to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production to lower gas prices, but with the US now seeing record extraction rates, those promises may soon be broken.
Announcing the new drilling ban, Biden said: “My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.
In a radio interview, Trump branded the ban “ridiculous.” I’ll unban it immediately,” he said. “I have the right to unban it immediately.”
Trump has previously said he will reverse Biden’s conservation and climate change policies. For the new drilling ban, Biden is taking action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which allows US presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling.
According to a 2019 court ruling, the law does not give the president the authority to reverse any prior bans. This means it would probably be an act of Congress, now dominated by Trump’s Republicans.
The law does not allow any president to undo any areas already leased for offshore drilling.
Although Trump favors more oil and gas exploration and has repeatedly used his campaign tagline “Drill, baby, drill,” Trump has used the law himself to protect waters off the coast of Florida in 2020.
This was seen at the time as an attempt to garner votes from the state ahead of the 2020 US election. The protection was due to expire in 2032. Biden’s decision will protect the same area without an expiry date.
