President Biden introduced an Eleventh-hour govt motion on Monday that bans new drilling and additional oil and natural gas development on greater than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal and offshore waters.
Biden, whose time period expires in two weeks, mentioned he’s utilizing authority to guard offshore areas alongside the East and West coasts, the jap Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and pure fuel leasing. He invoked the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, that means President-elect Trump might be restricted in his potential to revoke the motion. Congress would possibly must intervene to grant Trump authority to position federal waters again into growth.
“My choice displays what coastal communities, companies, and beachgoers have identified for a very long time: that drilling off these coasts might trigger irreversible injury to locations we maintain pricey and is pointless to fulfill our nation’s vitality wants,” Biden mentioned in an announcement. “It isn’t well worth the dangers. Because the local weather disaster continues to threaten communities throughout the nation and we’re transitioning to a clear vitality economic system, now’s the time to guard these coasts for our youngsters and grandchildren.”
The transfer garnered fast condemnation from Trump’s incoming White Home press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
TRUMP PLANNING TO LIFT BIDEN’S LNG PAUSE, INCREASE OIL DRILLING DURING 1ST DAYS IN OFFICE: REPORT
President Biden speaks at a reception for brand new Democratic members of Congress within the State Eating Room of the White Home, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photograph/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“It is a disgraceful choice designed to precise political revenge on the American individuals who gave President Trump a mandate to extend drilling and decrease fuel costs. Relaxation assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we are going to drill, child, drill,” Leavitt wrote on X.
Biden patted himself on the again for what he categorized as a legacy transfer within the combat against climate change.
“From Day One, I’ve delivered on essentially the most bold local weather and conservation agenda in our nation’s historical past. And over the past 4 years, I’ve conserved greater than 670 million acres of America’s lands and waters, greater than some other president in historical past,” Biden mentioned. “Our nation’s outstanding conservation and restoration progress has been domestically led by Tribes, farmers and ranchers, fishermen, small companies, and outside recreation lovers throughout the nation. Collectively, our ‘America the Stunning’ initiative put the US on observe to fulfill my bold objective to preserve at the least 30 p.c of our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a marketing campaign city corridor on the Larger Philadelphia Expo Heart & Fairgrounds, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa., as moderator South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem listens. (AP Photograph/Alex Brandon, File)
“We don’t want to decide on between defending the setting and rising our economic system, or between preserving our ocean wholesome, our coastlines resilient, and the meals they produce safe and preserving vitality costs low,” the assertion added. “These are false selections. Defending America’s coasts and ocean is the precise factor to do, and can assist communities and the economic system to flourish for generations to come back.”
Ron Neal, the chairman of the Impartial Petroleum Affiliation of America Offshore Committee, additionally slammed Biden’s last-ditch offshore drilling ban as “vital and catastrophic.”
“Whereas it might indirectly have an effect on the at the moment energetic manufacturing areas within the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and adjoining coastal areas, it represents a serious assault on the oil and pure fuel trade. This must be seen because the ‘elephant’s nostril beneath the tent.’ The ban severely limits potential for exploration and growth in new areas due to this fact chocking the long-term survivability of the trade,” Neal, additionally the President of Houston Vitality LP and CEO of HEQ Deepwater, mentioned in an announcement. “This transfer is a primary step in direction of extra in depth restrictions all throughout our trade in all U.S. basins together with the onshore. If the activists come for something, they’re coming for all the pieces. The coverage is catastrophic for the event of recent areas for oil and pure fuel however, the environmentalists will ultimately look to additionally shut down offshore wind farms for many of the similar causes. President Biden and his allies proceed to push anti-energy insurance policies that may harm Individuals.”
Offshore petroleum drilling rig within the Gulf of Mexico. (Ron Buskirk/UCG/Common Photographs Group by way of Getty Photographs)
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Trump, throughout his 2024 marketing campaign, promised to ship American “energy dominance” on the world stage as he seemed towards bolstering U.S. oil and fuel drilling, in addition to distance from Biden’s prioritization of local weather change initiatives.
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