US bans oil drilling off Pacific and Atlantic coasts
The Biden administration ban on most new oil and gas drilling off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts comes just weeks before Donald Trump takes office and could be reversed soon after.
PHOTO: An offshore oil drilling platform. Getty Images
With just two weeks left of his presidency, Joe Biden has passed a presidential order banning the majority of the offshore oil and natural gas leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the White House said in an official statement.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) has strongly opposed this move and said that US offshore resources are “significant” for the country’s energy security.
“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,” API’s chief executive Mike Sommers said.
The ban will render more than 625 million acres of US federal waters off limits for offshore drilling. But it could be short-lived as incoming president-elect Donald Trump has pledged to substantially increase US energy production with his “drill, baby, drill” stance.
"Rest assured... we will drill, baby, drill," Donald Trump's spokesperson Karoline Leavitt commented on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) following Biden's announcement.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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