Annette McGee Rasch
Environmentalists are cheering Biden’s 11th hour permanent ban on new oil and gas leasing in waters off the entire U.S. Atlantic coast, the Pacific coast of California, Oregon, and Washington, along with an area in Alaska’s Bering Sea and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Biden previously protected much smaller regions from oil development, though now, in a bold move that will surely cement his climate legacy, this new ban covers the largest region a president has ever protected using this authority. The ban protects more than 625 million acres of U.S. ocean!
Now, the oil industry, which had thrilled to Trump’s strong “drill baby drill” rhetoric, is crying foul about Biden’s move; and indeed, Trump has vowed to revoke the ban “immediately” – but it won’t be that easy.
Biden utilized the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which empowers presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling – and according to a 2019 court ruling, the law does not grant presidents the legal authority to overturn prior bans. Thus to reverse the ban would likely require an act of Congress (which Trump’s Republicans will control by only a narrow 219-215 margin).
Previous presidents, including Biden, utilized the same authority to protect specific ocean regions from drilling – just never before to this large extent. Late in his presidential term former President Barack Obama protected some waters, and while Trump attempted to reverse that action, he was unsuccessful. Interestingly, Trump himself also used the authority to protect the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for 12 years.
Some are saying that Biden’s new ban is mostly symbolic, because it won’t impact areas where oil and gas development is currently happening and largely covers areas where the oil industry has yet to show much interest, still, the ban’s supporters say it’s a big victory for millions of Americans who visit and live near the ocean to know that these ecologically valuable places will be protected from disasters like the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It also represents a commitment to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
While Trump and many Republicans are trying to cast the new ban as the latest chapter in the story of the oil and gas industry versus environmentalists, Biden rejects that notion, and said it’s a “false choice.” In a statement he said, “We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy. Protecting America’s coasts and oceans is the right thing to do.”
Manish Bapna, president and CEO of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) said “These ocean waters are vital for tourism, recreation, and fisheries–all of which would be threatened by oil drilling. By not allowing these public waters to be sold off to the highest corporate bidder, President Biden has put people and nature over polluters.
“Offshore drilling causes immense harm to coastal communities, pollute the ocean, and harm wildlife. History has unfortunately taught us that oil and gas drilling in the ocean inherently risks catastrophe. President Biden’s leasing withdrawal helps limit this risk and prevents oil and gas companies from lining their pockets at the public’s expense.”
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