Biden to ban offshore oil, gas drilling in vast areas ahead of Trump term

[In It to Win It]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-ban-offshore-oil-gas-100551895.html

U.S. President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas development along most U.S. coastlines, a decision that President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to boost domestic energy production, may find difficult to reverse.

The White House said on Monday Biden will use his authority under the 70-year-old Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect all federal waters off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska. The ban will affect 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of ocean.

Biden said the move was aligned with both his climate change agenda and his goal to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

He also invoked the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the low drilling potential of the areas included in the ban did not justify the public health and economic risks of future leasing.

[Mike 03]

1. I hope Biden's actions are difficult to reverse

One of my favorite charities, the Center for Biological Diversity, issued their action plan for the Trump term. The top agenda item is the coastal drilling (and drilling in Alaska, as well as some mining projects and continuation of the border wall). CBD wins many of its lawsuits but they are admitting this second term will be far more challenging.

[Unladen Swallow]

2. I was just going to ask about this

Can the ban be removed by a sweep of the pen? Every pres is so gung-ho on EOs these days.

[Think. Again.]

3. From the article...

"But the Lands Act, which allows presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling, does not grant them the legal authority to overturn prior bans, according to a 2019 court ruling. That order came in response to Trump's effort to reverse Arctic and Atlantic Ocean withdrawals made by former President Barack Obama at the end of his presidency."

[Think. Again.]

4. Thank you President Biden.

[Tickle]

5. That's why they said the courts

will be involved. I anticipate Trump using EO, we will stall it by taking it to court. The question I have, will Trump listen to the courts?