Biden set to permanently ban offshore oil and gas development in certain U.S. coastal waters

January 8, 2025 by Laura Harris

• President Joe Biden plans to issue an executive order banning new offshore oil and gas development in certain U.S. coastal waters, complicating President-elect Donald Trump's plans for increased domestic energy production.

• The order will prevent the sale of new drilling rights in parts of the country's outer continental shelf, using a 72-year-old law that allows the White House broad discretion to protect U.S. waters from oil and gas leasing.

• Biden faces pressure from congressional Democrats and environmental groups to maximize permanent protections against offshore drilling to safeguard coastal communities, protect marine ecosystems and combat climate change.

• The new offshore protections align with Biden's other recent actions to conserve areas from industrial mining and energy development, such as his proposal to prevent the sale of new oil, gas and geothermal leases in Nevada's Ruby Mountains.

• The executive order is expected to be difficult to revoke and will further solidify Biden's record as the president with the highest level of land and water protection in U.S. history, though it will not affect drilling and other activity on existing leases.

  President Joe Biden is preparing to issue a decree that will permanently ban new offshore oil and gas development in some U.S. coastal waters to complicate President-elect Donald Trump's plans for increased domestic energy production.

The executive order, which is set to be issued within days, will bar the sale of new drilling rights in portions of the country's outer continental shelf, according to sources familiar with the effort who asked to remain anonymous. The decision, rooted in a 72-year-old law that gives the White House broad discretion to permanently protect U.S. waters from oil and gas leasing, is expected to be difficult to revoke.

This move comes as Biden faces pressure from congressional Democrats and environmental groups to "maximize permanent protections" against offshore drilling, citing the need to safeguard vulnerable coastal communities, protect marine ecosystems from oil spills and combat "climate change."

The new offshore protections align with recent Biden actions to conserve areas from industrial mining and energy development, such as a formal proposal to prevent the sale of new oil, gas and geothermal leases in Nevada's Ruby Mountains. (Related: The Great Reset: Biden administration implements new costs for oil and gas drilling on public lands.)

The full scope of Biden's coming offshore protections is not yet clear, though the designation is expected to include critical areas for coastal resilience. Congressional Democrats and environmental groups have urged Biden to make a sweeping declaration, but recent deliberations have focused on parts of the Pacific Ocean near California and eastern Gulf of Mexico waters by Florida.

Analysts point out that the new protections will not affect drilling and other activity on existing leases. As Biden prepares to leave office, this executive order is seen as a way to lock in long-term environmental protections that will be challenging for a future administration to reverse.

Trump vows to boost domestic oil and gas production

In contrast, Trump has vowed to boost domestic oil and gas production while rolling back environmental regulations that curb their consumption.

Trump is expected to issue an executive order to revoke protections for over 125 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans in his inauguration. The order would reverse a directive issued by former President Barack Obama in 2016, which established these waters as off-limits to offshore drilling.

During his first term, Trump attempted to rescind Obama's protections but was thwarted by a federal district court ruling in 2019. The court found that the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which governs offshore oil and gas development, did not explicitly grant the president the authority to undo such designations.

The current situation has sparked debate among legal experts and environmentalists, who argue that the statute gives presidents wide discretion to protect waters from leasing but does not provide explicit authority to reverse such protections. This ambiguity has led to a long-standing precedent where presidents have invoked the law's withdrawal provision to preserve marine resources, beginning with former President Dwight Eisenhower's creation of the Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve in 1960.

Former President George H.W. Bush also used the provision to block oil leasing along the West Coast, Northeast U.S. and southern Florida. While presidents have modified decisions from their predecessors to exempt areas from oil leasing, courts have never validated a complete reversal of such protections.

In an ironic twist, Trump himself has recently used the same statute to block oil and gas leasing in waters near Florida and along the Southeast US in a bid to appeal to voters in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign. This action highlights the complex interplay between presidential authority and environmental policy.

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