President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to immediately reverse President Biden's new ban on offshore drilling along most of the U.S. coastline, but he faces major roadblocks under a 70-year, irrevocable law.
Throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vowed that, if elected, he would expand oil and gas drilling in an effort to bolster American-made energy.
However, Biden issued an 11th-hour executive order Monday morning to forestall such actions exactly two weeks before his term ends, announcing a permanent stop to most new oil and gas drilling across U.S. coastal and offshore waters in an area that spans about 625 million acres.
"It's ridiculous. I'll unban it immediately," Trump said on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" on Monday. "What's he doing?"
"We can't let that happen to our country," Trump added. "It's really our greatest economic asset."
The executive order, issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), seeks to block future oil and natural gas leasing along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea.
Trump said that he "has the right" to reverse such an action, but given that Biden issued the order under a 1953 law that allows the president to enact bans on oil and gas development, he would not be able to simply reverse it.
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In 2019, during Trump's first term, a federal judge ruled that OCSLA does not permit presidents to overturn bans established by previous administrations. This means Trump would need congressional approval to reverse Biden's decision.
Biden said that his decision stemmed from his efforts to curb climate change – one of dozens of moves from the Democratic president's green energy agenda.
"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," Biden said in a statement. "It is not worth the risks. 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."
Trump's spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, also issued a statement criticizing Biden's order.
"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," Leavitt said.
