Joe Biden will ban oil and gas production off the entire East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the remaining parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea in the final days of his presidency.
In keeping with his pledge to protect 30% of American lands and waterways by 2030, Biden will sign two memoranda on Monday that will permanently prohibit offshore drilling across more than 625 million acres of ocean, according to a White House statement.
“The orders reflect that the meager fossil fuel resources in those areas would not be worth the risks of environmental, health, and economic harms that could result from oil and gas exploration,” Biden said, citing the request of bipartisan state and local leaders in coastal communities.
“It is evident to me that the comparatively low fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing does not justify the environmental, public health, and economic risks that would come with new leasing and drilling,” Biden said in the statement, weighing the many uses and benefits of America’s ocean.
Throughout last year’s campaign, Biden was blasted by President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, for actions he claimed reduced the nation’s energy production. Trump claimed that the Biden administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline, temporary moratorium on oil and gas leases, and other environmental policies contributed to higher prices for consumers.
Trump is anticipated to pursue programs to increase oil and gas output, although economists have questioned the relationship.
Trump spokesman Karoline Leavitt harshly condemned Biden’s action in a statement released Monday morning. The purpose of this shameful action is to politically retaliate against the American people who voted for President Trump to expand drilling and cut gas prices. We will drill, baby, drill, she promised them, and Joe Biden will fail.
However, Biden characterized offshore drilling in the large regions he is safeguarding as harmful to the long-term economic well-being of the United States, partly by safeguarding the fishing and tourism sectors.
“We don’t have to choose between developing our economy and preserving the environment, or between maintaining the resilience of our coastlines, the health of our oceans, and the security of the food they produce, and maintaining low energy prices,” Biden stated. Those are poor decisions. In addition to being the ethical thing to do, protecting America’s oceans and coasts will benefit future generations’ economies and communities.
According to a White House information sheet, the protections are perpetual and forbid any further leasing of natural gas and oil in the removed areas.
From the Maine-Canada border to the tip of Florida, 334 million acres of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico are protected by the decrees.
Off the shores of California, Oregon, and Washington, about 250 million acres of Pacific shoreline would be preserved, providing home for seals, sea lions, whales, fish, and innumerable seabirds. The fact sheet stated that the provisions had been requested by the governors of the three states. Off the west coast of the mainland, the latest government lease sale occurred in 1984.
Additionally, the Northern Bering Sea will be preserved on 44 million acres. According to the White House, numerous Alaska Native communities requested the protections.
The White House stated that the health of these waters is vital to food security and the culture of over 70 coastal Tribes, including the Yup Ik, Cup Ik, and Inupiaq people who have depended on these resources for millennia, and that oil and gas development would seriously jeopardize coastal communities in this area.
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