Getty ImagesUS President Joe Biden announced a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline a few weeks before Donald Trump took office.
The ban announced by Biden covers the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and part of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
It’s the latest in a series of last-minute climate policy moves by the Biden administration ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.
During his campaign, Trump promised to “liberate” domestic fossil fuel production to lower gas prices, despite the fact that the U.S. has already seen record high extraction rates.
Biden said in a statement: “My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling on these beaches can cause irreparable damage to these places. is dear to us and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.
“It’s not worth the risks.”
Trump has promised to reverse Biden’s conservation and climate change policies when he takes office later this month. However, the new ban has no deadline and could be difficult for Republicans to remove.
Biden is acting under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which allows presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling.
The law, however, does not give them the legal authority to overturn previous restrictions, according to a 2019 court ruling.
Trump himself used the law to ban the sale of offshore drilling rights in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida until 2032. Biden’s decision would protect the same territory without an expiration date.
The restriction covers more than 625 million acre-feet (253 million hectares) of water.
After it was reported last week that Biden would issue the ban, incoming Trump press secretary Carolyn Levitt called the move a “shameful decision.”
He said it was “designed to exact political revenge on the American people who have pushed President Trump to increase drilling and raise gas prices.” I gave a reduction mandate”.
However, environmental groups have welcomed the decision.
Joseph Gordon, from the conservation organization Oceania, said: “This is an epic maritime victory.
“Our precious coastal communities are now protected for future generations.”