Boosting U.S. Oil and Gas Production? Not So Fast! Joe Biden Attempts to Block a Major Campaign Promise of Donald Trump by Announcing on Monday, January 6, the Ban on New Offshore Drilling in a Vast Maritime Area.
The Democratic president, who will hand over power to his Republican rival on January 20, has decided, according to a statement, to ban any new drilling in a maritime area covering a total of more than 2.5 million square kilometers.
The ban, which has no end date, will apply along the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Strait.
« The time has come to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren, » Joe Biden justified in the statement.
Difficult for Trump to reverse course « It is clear to me that the relatively minor fossil fuel potential of the protected areas does not justify the environmental, public health, and economic risks that new concessions and drilling would pose, » he added.
« We do not have to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between preserving our oceans, our coasts, and the food they produce, and keeping energy prices low. These are false choices, » he denounced.
The message is clearly directed at the elected Republican president, who during his campaign promised to drill extensively (« drill, baby, drill ») to reduce gas prices, even though U.S. hydrocarbon production is already at record levels.
According to the U.S. press, it may be difficult for the 78-year-old billionaire to reverse his Democratic predecessor’s decision.
Joe Biden is relying on a 1953 law that grants the federal government authority over the exploitation of offshore resources, the « Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. »
This law does not explicitly grant the president the right to reverse a ban on new drilling without going through Congress.
Environmental NGOs praise the decision Karoline Leavitt, the future spokesperson for the Trump administration, had already criticized the decision in a message to U.S. newspapers, calling it a « scandalous decision » and « political vengeance. »
Environmental NGOs, on the other hand, welcomed the decision, ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival in office, who contests the reality of human-caused climate change.
« It’s a landmark victory for the oceans, » Joseph Gordon from the NGO Oceana already reacted, anticipating the announcement.
Source: GEO
