Biden to Ban New Oil Drilling Over Vast Stretch of US Atlantic, Pacific Waters

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(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden is set to order a ban on new offshore oil and gas development across about 625 million acres of U.S. coastal land, ruling out the sale of drilling rights in Atlantic and Pacific waters as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico. .

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The move represents a sweeping effort to permanently protect coastal waters — and the communities that depend on them — from fossil fuel development and the threat of oil spills. Meanwhile, Biden is keeping the door open for new oil and natural gas leasing in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico that have been drilled for decades and currently provide about 14% of the nation’s production of that fuel, he said. People familiar with the matter asked to remain anonymous because the decision has not yet been announced.

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Biden’s decision, scheduled to be announced on Monday, will improve his climate credentials and deepen his record of promoting environmental conservation and emissions-free energy. It relies on a series of last-minute White House moves to protect lands and enshrine environmental protections before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

White House spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment made outside regular business hours.

Unlike other steps Biden has taken to restrict fossil fuel development and greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, this move could have long-term durability, complicating Trump’s intention to boost domestic oil and gas production.

That’s because Biden’s planned announcement is rooted in a 72-year-old provision of federal law that gives presidents broad discretion to withdraw U.S. waters from oil leasing without explicitly authorizing rescission.

Presidents of both parties — including Trump — have invoked the same law to protect coral reefs, walrus feeding grounds and other U.S. waters from Florida to Alaska. While presidents have modified decisions made by their predecessors to exempt regions from oil leasing, the courts have never ratified a full reversal.

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Democrats in Congress and environmental groups have pressed Biden to maximize permanent protections against offshore drilling to protect vulnerable coastal communities, protect marine ecosystems from oil spills and combat climate change. Some environmental activists were divided over the best approach, worrying that an overly broad declaration could jeopardize a legal tool that has been used to preserve special marine areas since 1953.

However, the planned declaration is both strong and strategic — it protects indefinitely some areas that Republican and Democratic politicians have jointly pushed to keep drilling-free without encroaching on long-active territory in the Gulf of Mexico that underlies oil production. and American gas.

The announcement will not affect drilling work and other activities related to existing lease contracts. It also keeps the way open for Republican lawmakers to order more oil lease sales in the central and western Gulf as a way to raise revenue that could offset the cost of extending the tax cuts.

Earlier: Trump ready “within seconds” to issue orders to stimulate drilling

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Environmentalists said Biden’s move ensures that oil companies cannot exploit reserves in the eastern Gulf and South Pacific that have long tempted the industry. They added that the protection responds to growing public interest in limiting offshore oil exploration.

Joseph Gordon, campaign director at the environmental group Oceana, said the president would deliver an “epic victory for the oceans” and “contribute to the bipartisan tradition of protecting our coasts” by enshrining protections.

Oil industry advocates said the planned action limits America’s energy power, even as the country stands on the cusp of an expected increase in demand for electricity from data centers, artificial intelligence and manufacturing. They claim that offshore energy development powers a long chain of economic activity extending far from the coast of the United States, and that oil and gas extracted in America produces less global-warming pollution than anywhere else around the world.

“Voters have made their views clear about the importance of American energy, yet the Biden administration’s misguided approach continues to undermine our country’s energy advantage,” said Dustin Meyer, senior vice president for policy at the American Petroleum Institute.

Trump could order Biden’s action to be reversed, just as he tried to reverse President Barack Obama’s withdrawals during his first term in office. But Trump’s previous attempt was rejected by a federal district court in 2019.

Some of the waters Biden is targeting also overlap with lands near Florida and the southeastern United States that Trump himself temporarily withdrew from oil and gas leasing during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump’s withdrawals are scheduled to expire in 2032.

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