Biden to Ban More Offshore Oil Drilling Before Trump Return

During his final weeks in the White House, President Joe Biden is expected to issue an executive order prohibiting new offshore oil and gas drilling, a move that would help protect areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans from President-elect Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the plans said that Biden is expected to issue the permanent ban within days. The decree is based on the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a 1953 law that lays out guidelines for oil and gas development in the United States outer continental shelf, and could allow Biden to withdraw large swaths of federal waters from future leasing, per the outlet.

Trump’s first term saw him roll back over 100 environmental regulations during his presidency, and allow the fossil fuel industry to increase carbon, mercury, and methane emissions. During his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly said he’d be a dictator on day one back in office and vowed to “drill, drill, drill.” He also promised he would eliminate Biden’s key climate policies in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Last month, the president-elect chose Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental experts previously told Rolling Stone that the former New York Republican lawmaker is expected to pursue Trump’s agenda of repealing countless environmental regulations, potentially leading to billions of tons of noxious greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere. 

As the president races to safeguard climate policies before Trump’s return to office, Biden is set to protect more US lands and waters than any other president. According to the Washington Post, the president also plans to create two new national monuments in California in order to protect roughly 644,000-acres in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park by barring drilling, mining, and other industrial development in the area. 

Earlier this week, AP reported that the president’s administration said it submitted an application to withdraw 264,000 acres of federal lands in northeastern Nevada’s Ruby Mountains from oil, gas and geothermal leasing for 20 years.