Biden Uses 72-Year-Old Law to Give Trump a Slap in the Face Before MAGA 2.0
President Joe Biden is taking action to protect 625 million acres of offshore areas from future oil and gas drilling, the White House announced Monday, in a move which could frustrate plans of the incoming Donald Trump administration.
Biden is invoking the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to prevent new fossil fuel developments off the East and West coasts of the U.S. as well as in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s North Bering Sea.
The law gives presidents the power to permanently withdraw parts of the Outer Continental Shelf from future oil and gas leasing—but doesn’t include a provision for how another president could revoke such an order. Trump would therefore likely have to get Congress to change the law before he could undo Biden’s action.
Biden’s decision, which could pose problems for Trump’s plans to quickly ramp up fossil fuel production when he returns to office this month, was condemned by Trump’s incoming press secretary.
“This is 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,” Karoline Leavitt wrote in a post on X. “Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
In a statement, President Biden said drilling in the areas he’s seeking to protect “could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.”
“It is not worth the risks,” Biden said. “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.”
Mike Sommers, the president of oil and gas industry group American Petroleum Institute, claimed in a statement that the Biden Administration decision is “politically motivated.”
“Congress and the incoming administration should fully leverage the nation’s vast offshore resources as a critical source of affordable energy, government revenue and stability around the world,” Sommers said. “We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing.”
Biden highlighted in his announcement the bipartisan support that has been given to protecting certain areas from drilling.
“From California to Florida, Republican and Democratic Governors, Members of Congress, and coastal communities alike have worked and called for greater protection of our ocean and coastlines from harms that offshore oil and natural gas drilling can bring,” Biden said.
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