2 weeks ago
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Joe Biden has banned offshore drilling across an immense area of coastal waters, weeks before Donald Trump takes office pledging to massively increase fossil fuel production.
The US president’s ban encompasses the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
A White House statement said the declaration protected more than 253m hectares (625m acres) of waters.
“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.
“In balancing the many uses and benefits of America’s ocean, it is clear to me that the relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health, and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling,” he added.
The ban does not have an end date and could be legally – and politically – tricky for Trump to overturn.
Biden is taking the action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which gives the federal government authority over the exploitation of offshore resources.
However, the law does not expressly provide for presidents to unilaterally reverse a drilling ban without going through Congress.
During his campaign, Trump pledged to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production to help lower gas costs, despite the country already hitting record high extraction rates.
After US media reported late last week that Biden would issue such a ban, Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s incoming press secretary, called the move “a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices”.
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Environmental groups, on the other hand, welcomed the decision. “This is an epic ocean victory!” said Joseph Gordon, climate and energy director at the conservation non-profit Oceana. “Our treasured coastal communities are now safeguarded for future generations.”
The White House said: “With today’s withdrawals, President Biden has now conserved more than 670m acres of US lands, waters, and ocean – more than any president in history.”
The move is the latest in a string of last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration before Trump’s return to the White House.
In mid-December, the outgoing administration issued an ambitious new climate target under the landmark Paris accord, committing the US to reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 61% below to 66% below 2005 levels by 2035, on the path to achieving net zero by 2050.
