By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – A standoff emerged Tuesday between outgoing President Joe Biden and his incoming successor, Donald J. Trump, over his plans to expand offshore drilling.
Trump, whose “drill, baby, drill” mantra has energized the fossil fuel industry, condemned Biden for moving to ban new offshore oil and natural gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters.
It was seen as a last-minute effort to prevent the incoming Trump from taking action.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, said he is using authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing.
“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.
“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,” he stressed.
Biden’s orders would not affect large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs. Still, it would protect coastlines along California, Florida, and other states from future drilling.
BAN ‘RIDICULOUS’
However, in a radio interview, Trump branded the ban “ridiculous”.
“I’ll unban it immediately,” he pledged. “I have the right to unban it immediately.”
Trump has previously said he will reverse Biden’s conservation and climate change policies, arguing that the United States has been taken advantage of by heavy carbon dioxide, or CO2, emitting countries like China.
Yet analysts say Biden’s actions, which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be complex for President-elect Donald Trump to unwind since they would likely require an act of the United States Congress to repeal.
Trump himself has a complicated history of offshore drilling. In 2020, he signed a memorandum directing the Interior Secretary to prohibit drilling in the waters off both Florida coasts and off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina until 2032.
The action came after Trump initially moved to vastly expand offshore drilling before retreating amid widespread opposition in Florida and other coastal states. Biden’s ban covers the Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast of California, Oregon, and Washington, and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
It is the latest in a string of last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that a U.S. security guarantees document for Ukraine is “100% ready” following trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the United States, and Russia aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.
President Donald Trump said last Thursday that a massive U.S. naval force is moving toward Iran, warning the regime in Tehran that continued violence against its own people and renewed nuclear activity could trigger further American action.
President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States deployed a previously undisclosed weapon system—dubbed “The Discombobulator”—during the January 3 raid that led to the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
Federal agents shot and killed an armed man in Minneapolis Saturday morning, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
Spain will not take part in the Board of Peace initiative launched by U.S. President Donald J. Trump to tackle global conflicts, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Friday, citing Madrid’s commitment to multilateral diplomacy and the United Nations system.
Tens of thousands of pro-life Americans from across the United States and around the world gathered Friday in the nation’s capital for the 53rd annual March for Life, filling the National Mall with a unified declaration that “Life Is a Gift.”
Islamic “terrorist groups” have stepped up “their rampage of death and destruction” across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past year while “increasingly targeting children” from Christian communities “to use them as weapons for war and abuse,” according to new findings by a Christian advocacy group.