Biden Issues Permanent Ban on Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling Across Vast Stretches of U.S. Waters
A week after cleanup crews worked to remove oil-contaminated sand and seaweed near Huntington Beach, California following an offshore oil spill, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping ban on future oil and gas drilling across significant portions of U.S. coastal waters. With only two weeks remaining in his presidency, Biden signed two memoranda on Monday permanently prohibiting drilling in over 625 million acres of ocean. This action directly supports his administration’s goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
The White House cited the relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in these areas and the significant environmental, public health, and economic risks associated with oil and gas exploration as the primary rationale for the ban. The decision followed requests from bipartisan state and local leaders in coastal regions. President Biden stated, “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.”
This decision has drawn sharp criticism from President-elect Donald Trump and his spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, who characterized it as “a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people.” Leavitt asserted that the move would hinder efforts to increase domestic drilling and lower gas prices, a position supported by Trump’s campaign rhetoric which criticized Biden’s previous environmental policies for driving up energy costs. While economists have questioned the direct link between these policies and consumer costs, Trump is expected to pursue policies promoting expanded oil and gas production.
Conversely, the Biden administration argues that the ban protects the long-term economic health of the U.S. by safeguarding valuable fishing and tourism industries. President Biden emphasized that these are not mutually exclusive priorities, stating, “We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy… Protecting America’s coasts and ocean is the right thing to do, and will help communities and the economy to flourish for generations to come.”
The newly implemented protections are permanent, effectively prohibiting all future oil and natural gas leasing in the affected areas. This encompasses 334 million acres along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, stretching from the Maine-Canada border to Florida; nearly 250 million acres of Pacific coastline off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington—habitat for seals, sea lions, whales, fish, and numerous seabirds; and 44 million acres in the Northern Bering Sea, an area vital to the food security and cultural heritage of over 70 Alaska Native tribes. The latter two regions saw requests for protection from respective state governors and Alaska Native communities. The last federal lease sale off the mainland West Coast occurred in 1984.
(Original source attribution: Jacob Fischler, Minnesota Reformer, January 6, 2025)