President Joe Biden plans to block key areas from offshore oil and gas drilling in an eleventh-hour bid to block his successor’s plans to massively expand those programs in the name of “drill, baby, drill.”
The White House, less than two weeks before Biden leaves office, said the president will issue two presidential memoranda to protect offshore areas on the East and West Coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. The withdrawals have no expiration date and block all future leasing in those areas.
Together, Biden’s actions will protect 625 million acres of federal waters from future drilling, according to the White House.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” Biden said in a statement.
The move won instant praise from environmental and climate activists, many of whom have been advocating for the U.S. to reduce drilling and enforce protections for areas off the eastern Gulf of Mexico. In his statement, Biden cited the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which dumped an estimated 210 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is an epic ocean victory!” Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon said in a statement. “Our coastlines are home to millions of Americans and support billions of dollars of economic activity that depend on a clean coast, abundant wildlife, and thriving fisheries.”
Gordon noted that offshore drilling bans have a bipartisan history. President-elect Donald Trump expanded a ban on offshore drilling in waters off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in 2020.
However, Trump — who will become the 47th president of the U.S. after his inauguration on Jan. 20 — has pledged to boost domestic oil and gas production, open new land for drilling, and slash regulations. In December, he called on the European Union to buy more oil and gas or face tariffs and announced a plan to give fully expedited permits to any company or individual investing $1 billion in the U.S.
“It’ll be changed on day one. I can change it immediately,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday of Biden’s orders. “I have the right to unban it,” he added.
Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on social media wrote that Biden’s actions are “political revenge” against Trump voters, who want him to lower gas prices. “Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill,” she wrote.
However, repealing Biden’s orders would likely require Congressional intervention, preventing any immediate action. Biden’s action invokes the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives presidents the authority to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing and development but not explicitly the authority to revoke any executive action.
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