Biden Issues Executive Order Banning Offshore Oil and Gas in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

Last week, we reported that rumors were flying that Joe Biden would be issuing an executive order on Monday to ban new oil and gas offshore projects permanently, handing the green energy lobby a significant win.

Well, as I am writing this report, Biden followed through, blocking leasing projects on a total of 625 million acres of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Sadly, there is nothing that Donald Trump can do to reverse this ban due to Biden using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to back the order.

It’s Out

Biden’s ban will prevent new leases along the entire East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.

Because Biden is using the OCSLA for his order, the only way to reverse the order is with congressional legislation, and Republicans don’t have the numbers in Congress to make that happen.

In issuing the order, Biden stated, “My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.

“It is not worth the risks.”

During an interview this week, Trump wrongly responded, “Look, it’s ridiculous. I’ll unban it immediately.”

The fact of the matter is that this has been litigated before by Trump, when he tried to undo a ban that was put in place during the Obama administration.

Now, the matter did not go further than the lower court, so there may be some daylight here, but the only way I can see Trump getting relief would be to go before the Supreme Court, and I don’t see the court ruling in his favor either.

Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also pushed back on the order, stating, “This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”

The legislation is fairly clear on this front, giving a sitting president fairly broad powers to ban drilling, a law that Trump actually used when he was in office to ban drilling off Florida and South Carolina for 10 years.

Trump can promise whatever he wants here, but Biden just put up a major roadblock that is going to significantly hamper Trump’s ability to make the United States energy independent again.