The White Home introduced right this moment that President Joe Biden is banning new offshore oil and gasoline drilling alongside 625 million acres of US shoreline, taking the whole space of ocean he’s protected to 670 million acres.
Biden, who wraps up his time period in simply two weeks, has used his authority underneath Part 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which permits him to withdraw any unleased areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from future offshore drilling. Biden is defending stretches of the East and West coasts, the japanese Gulf of Mexico, and elements of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.
“In balancing the numerous makes use of and advantages of America’s ocean, it’s clear to me that the comparatively minimal fossil gasoline potential within the areas I’m withdrawing don’t justify the environmental, public well being, and financial dangers that might come from new leasing and drilling,” Biden mentioned in a assertion on Monday.
Biden continued, “The Deepwater Horizon oil spill [pictured above], a man-made disaster that took the lives of 11 individuals and spilled thousands and thousands of barrels of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is a solemn reminder of the prices and dangers of offshore drilling to the well being and resilience of our coasts and fisheries and underscores the significance of the authorized protections I’m putting in right this moment.”
Earlier presidents from each events have used this authority to withdraw massive areas from oil and gasoline leasing. In 2020, the Trump administration protected North Carolina via Florida for 10 years in response to extensive opposition to drilling from Republicans and voters, however the protections had been set to run out in 2032. Biden’s announcement now completely protects these areas. Trump, nonetheless, says he desires to overturn Biden’s oil drilling ban “on day one.”
Joseph Gordon, marketing campaign director for the ocean conservation group Oceana, mentioned in an announcement, “President Biden’s new protections add to this bipartisan historical past, together with President Trump’s earlier withdrawals within the southeastern United States in 2020. Our treasured coastal communities at the moment are safeguarded for future generations.”
The oil trade at present holds greater than 2,000 leases, in keeping with a 2023 Oceana report, with 75% of that ocean acreage at present unused.
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