Biden bans new offshore drilling along most of the US coastline

The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden would ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline.

The order will protect some 625 million acres of ocean along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas, the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Bering Sea from “environmental and economic risks and damages,” the order said. White House in a press release announcing this decision.

It is also an attempt to protect Biden's climate legacy from the energy policies Republicans are expected to pursue and the energy policies of President-elect Donald Trump.

Biden will use an obscure provision of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 (OCSLA), which gives the president the power to indefinitely remove unleased lands from the Outer Continental Shelf.

While former President Barack Obama used the law in 2016 to protect 119 million acres of land, Monday's decision is much larger and will be seen as a significant victory for environmental groups who have long argued that the lawsuit drilling is contradictory to the US government's stated goal of reducing emissions. emissions that lead to climate change.

Last year was the hottest in history.

Drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is not necessary to meet our nation's energy needs. It's not worth it, Biden said in a statement.

As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we transition to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren, he said. added.

Biden's decision brings the total ocean area he has protected to 670 million acres more than any other president and could thwart Trump's plans to get an economic boost by doubling production increases oil and gas he oversaw in his first administration.

President Biden at the White House on January 5, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

During his first administration, Trump used an executive order to attempt to overturn Obama's decision to invoke OCSLA during the final month of his presidency, but that decision was overturned by the courts. That means it may take an act of Congress to reverse the Biden administration's Monday announcement.

The week after winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump named Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, as his choice to lead the Department of Energy.

Wright has previously written about the need to increase fossil fuel production to lift people out of poverty, and in a video posted to his LinkedIn profile in 2023, he said there was no climate crisis and that we were not in the middle of an energy transition, either.

Although many protected areas have not attracted much interest from the energy sector, the Biden administration has also said the ban would cover the entire eastern Atlantic coast of the United States and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Both areas have attracted interest from oil companies, even though Trump himself moved to prevent drilling in these areas during his first administration.

In 2020, Trump issued a moratorium on drilling in areas where oil and gas exploration drew broad opposition from Florida Republicans and North Carolina voters.

In many areas protected by Monday's announcement, Biden said, a development that would do little, if anything, to meet the nation's energy needs.

Citing lessons learned from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, when 134 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, Biden said we don't need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our oceans healthy, our coasts. resilient, and the food they produce is safe and keeps energy prices low. These are false choices.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement that President Biden's actions today are part of our work in this administration to make bold, lasting changes that recognize the impact of oil and gas drilling on the coasts of our country.

Today, the President is taking actions that reflect what states, tribes, and local communities have shared with us: a strong and compelling need to support resilient oceans and coastlines by protecting them from unnecessary oil and gas development, she added.

The announcement received an enthusiastic response from environmental groups.

These protective policies will ensure safer conditions and more space to thrive for millions of people living along America's coasts, for thousands of businesses that depend on pristine oceans, and for vulnerable wildlife, said Drew Caputo , vice president of Earthjustice, a nonprofit organization. dedicated to litigation on environmental issues.

Our coasts are home to millions of Americans and support billions of dollars of economic activity that depends on a clean coastline, abundant wildlife and thriving fisheries, said Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon. a non-profit ocean conservation organization. President Biden's new protections add to this bipartisan history, including President Trump's previous withdrawals in the southeastern United States in 2020.

David Hodari

David Hodari is a publisher based in London.

Tara Prindiville contributed.

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