Biden to ban offshore oil, gas drilling in vast areas ahead of Trump term

US President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas development along most US coastlines, a decision that President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to boost domestic energy production, may find difficult to reverse.

The White House said on Monday Biden will use his authority under the 70-year-old Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect all federal waters off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska. The ban will affect 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of ocean.

Biden said the move was aligned with both his climate change agenda and his goal to conserve 30 per cent of US lands and waters by 2030.He also invoked the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the low drilling potential of the areas included in the ban did not justify the public health and economic risks of future leasing.

“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,” Biden said in a statement. “It is not worth the risks.”

The announcement comes as Trump has pledged to reverse Biden’s conservation and climate change policies when he takes office later this month. During his term, Biden limited new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, drawing criticism from drilling states and companies.

But the Lands Act, which allows presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling, does not grant them the legal authority to overturn prior bans, according to a 2019 court ruling. That order came in response to Trump’s effort to reverse Arctic and Atlantic Ocean withdrawals made by former President Barack Obama at the end of his presidency. Even Trump used the law to ban sales of offshore drilling rights in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida through 2032. Biden’s decision will protect the same area with no expiration.

An oil and gas industry trade group said the decision would harm American energy security and should be reversed by Congress.“We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing,” American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers said in a statement.

Environmental group Oceana called it a victory for Americans who depend on clean coastlines and fisheries. “Our treasured coastal communities are now safeguarded for future generations,” Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon said in a statement.