President-elect Donald Trump’s momentum is being thwarted by President Joe Biden’s decision to ban new offshore oil and gas digging in the majority of US southern waters as he steps down from office.
According to Biden, “my choice reflects what coastal areas, organizations, and beachgoers have known for a long time: cutting off these coasts may irreversibly harm places we value dearly and is unnecessarily necessary to meet our government’s power needs.”
Now is the time to guard these shores for our children and grandchildren, Biden said,” As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean-energy business.”
Biden claimed that he is using the federal and regional laws under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to shield offshore locations along the East and West coasts, the southeast Gulf of Mexico, and regions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from potential oil and natural gas rental.
The , New York Post , reports that Biden’s commands would certainly affect large swathes of the Gulf of Mexico, where most US offshore cutting occurs, but would defend coasts along California, Florida and other claims from future cutting. The Post even notes Biden’s activities, which protect more than 625 million acres of national waters, may be hard for President-elect Donald Trump to untangle, since it would probably require an act of Congress to overturn.
Economic groups have applauded Biden’s activities, claiming that , fresh oil and gas drilling must , lower in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.  ,” This is an incredible sea triumph”! said Joseph Gordon, strategy director for the economic team Oceana. Gordon thanked Biden for “reflecting the voices from southern communities” who oppose cutting and” contributing to the nonpartisan custom of protecting our coastlines.”
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, described Biden’s action as” a terrible choice intended to specific political retribution against the British people who gave President Trump the authority to raise drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill”.
