President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to restrict offshore oil and gas drilling in his final days in office, a move that would placate the environmentalist lobby and potentially obstruct President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to unleash the U.S. energy sector, according to Bloomberg News. [emphasis, links added]
Biden’s reportedly forthcoming order would permanently ban new lease sales for oil and gas drilling in certain regions of the outer continental shelf, according to Bloomberg News, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
Some elected Democrats and many well-funded green groups have pushed Biden to implement permanent environmental policies in the waning days of his presidency to fluster Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda.
While the scope of the order is currently unclear, there have been internal discussions about targeting certain areas off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Bloomberg News.
It is also unclear when the administration will announce the policy, though it could be within a matter of days.
While many of the Biden administration’s energy policies will be relatively easy to reverse, the reportedly forthcoming offshore drilling decree will be permanent and “difficult to revoke” because it is enabled by a law that permits presidents to protect federal waters from drilling without clearly allowing them to walk back prior designations, according to Bloomberg News.
Still, Trump could try to roll back Biden’s order, though it is not clear whether or not he would be successful.
The offshore protections are clearly at odds with Trump’s campaign promise to unshackle and unleash the U.S. energy sector.
The Biden administration also worked to reduce offshore oil and gas activity by issuing the most restrictive five-year leasing schedule in modern history in 2023.
The lame-duck administration has also been working to finalize climate policies and disburse funding for various green initiatives in the wake of the election, doing things like blocking oil and gas development in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains for 20 years and finalizing massive taxpayer-funded loans for green energy companies.
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