Biden-Harris Administration Order to Hurt Oil Drilling After Trump Win

Donald Trump is the president-elect, but Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can still inflict some damage over the next two months.  

Donald Trump has made it quite clear that he plans on reopening domestic drilling as soon as he gets into office.  

However, the Biden administration just announced a move to try to block him with a new order.  

Stop the Drilling 

Trump has not hidden the fact that on Day One, he will use executive orders to remove whatever regulations he can that would open up drilling.  

Biden is going to try to stop him in terms of the being able to drill in areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  

For drilling purposes, this area has been hotly contested for quite some time, and if Biden has his way, the regulations against it will be significantly increased compared to Trump’s first term in office.  

Local outlets have reported that "at least 400,000 acres in the refuge’s coastal plain would be available for oil and gas leasing, but only in areas deemed to have high potential for holding hydrocarbons and only under some new environmental restrictions to protect wildlife and other resources." 

This was the lowest amount of acreage that was legally permitted to be up for auction for a drilling lease.  

This lease will only be offered because of a Trump-era law that was set to expire this year.  

My guess is that Biden figured by holding the lease now, and offering only a minimal amount of land, he could control how much of the refuge was opened up for drilling.  

Biden also put huge restrictions on the area in the National Petroleum Reserve, closing off huge chunks of the land from being able to be drilled.  

This is something that I am sure Trump will look to undo, which is likely to wind up in court.  

However, if the GOP takes the House, Trump would be far better served to have legislation passed that would block Democrats in the future from undoing an Executive Order.