Anamika Dey, editor
Brief news
- President Biden announced a prohibition on new offshore oil and gas drilling, protecting approximately 625 million acres of ocean along U.S. coastlines to mitigate environmental risks.
- This decision aims to solidify Biden’s climate legacy against potential Republican energy policies and is the largest conservation effort by any president, totaling 670 million acres.
- The move reflects community demands for resilient coastlines and lessons learned from past oil spills, emphasizing the need to balance environmental protection with energy needs.
Detailed news
Monday was the day that the White House made the announcement that President Joe Biden would prohibit new offshore oil and gas drilling along the majority of the coastline of the United States.
According to a statement released by the White House in response to the announcement of the move, the order will preserve approximately 625 million acres of ocean along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of the United States, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Bering Sea in Alaska, from “environmental and economic risks and harms.”
Additionally, it is an effort to shield Biden’s legacy in the field of climate change from the energy policy that is going to be pursued by Republicans and the energy policy that will be pursued by President-elect Donald Trump.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) was passed in 1953 and contains a provision that allows the president the authority to withdraw unleased lands from the outer continental shelf for an unlimited period of time. Biden will employ this specific provision.
Despite the fact that former President Barack Obama utilized the act in 2016 to protect 119 million acres of land, the move that was made on Monday is significantly larger and will be regarded as a significant victory for environmental groups. These groups have argued for a long time that further drilling is in direct opposition to the stated goal of the United States government, which is to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change.
It was the warmest year ever recorded in the history of the world.
To meet the energy requirements of our country, drilling off these shores is not only unnecessary but also has the potential to do irreparable damage to locations that are very important to us. In a statement, Vice President Biden stated that the dangers must not be taken.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and as we are transitioning to an economy that is powered by clean energy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” he continued.
The decision made by Vice President Joe Biden brings the total area of ocean that he has conserved to 670 million acres, which is more than any other president has ever safeguarded. This decision may also make it more difficult for President Trump to achieve his goals of gaining an economic boost by increasing the amount of oil and gas production that he controlled during his first administration.
Trump issued an executive order during his first administration in an effort to overturn Obama’s decision to invoke OCSLA during the final month of his presidency. However, the decision was overturned by the courts, and Trump’s attempt to repeal it was unsuccessful. Therefore, it is possible that the announcement made by the Biden administration on Monday will require an act of Congress in order to be reversed.
In the week following his victory in the presidential election of 2024, President Trump announced that he would be appointing Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, to head the Department of Energy.
In a video that was uploaded to Wright’s LinkedIn page in 2023, he stated that “there is no climate crisis, and we are not in the midst of an energy transition, either.” Wright has previously written about the necessity of increasing the output of fossil fuels in order to bring people out of poverty.
Additionally, the administration of Vice President Joe Biden stated that the prohibition will encompass the whole eastern Atlantic coast of the United States as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This is despite the fact that many of the protected areas have not always been particularly appealing to the oil business. Despite the fact that Trump personally took steps to restrict drilling in such locations during his first administration, oil corporations have shown interest in both of these regions on multiple occasions.
After receiving widespread pushback from Republicans in Florida and people in North Carolina, President Trump announced a moratorium on drilling in regions where oil and gas development was being conducted in the year 2020.
The Vice President stated that “development that would do little, if anything, to meet the nation’s energy needs” would be preserved in many of the places that were protected by the declaration made on Monday.
In a statement, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland responded to the news by saying, “President Biden’s actions today are part of our work across this Administration to make bold and enduring changes that recognize the impact of oil and gas drilling on our nation’s coastlines.” Her remark was made in response to the news.
“As of today, the President is taking action that reflects what states, tribes, and local communities have shared with us, which is a strong and overwhelming need to support resilient oceans and coastlines by protecting them from unnecessary oil and gas development,” she added. “This action is a reflection of what we have heard from these groups.”
The lessons that were learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 — when 134 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico — were cited by Vice President Joe Biden when he stated that “we do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our ocean healthy, our coastlines resilient, and the food they produce secure and keeping energy prices low.” Such options are not viable options.
Source : CNBC news
