US President Joe Biden has banned offshore drilling across an immense area of coastal waters, weeks before Donald Trump takes office pledging to massively increase fossil fuel production.
The ban encompasses the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
A White House statement said the declaration protected more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of waters.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” Biden said in a statement.
“In balancing the many uses and benefits of America’s ocean, it is clear to me that the relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health, and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling,” he added.
The ban does not have an end date and could be legally — and politically — tricky for Trump to overturn.
Biden is taking the action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which gives the federal government authority over the exploitation of offshore resources.
The law however does not expressly provide for presidents to unilaterally reverse a drilling ban without going through Congress.
During his campaign, Trump pledged to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production in a bid to lower gas costs, despite the country already seeing record high extraction rates.
