The Biden administration announced Monday that it is banning future offshore oil and gas activity across 625 million acres of the outer continental shelf, an area larger than the amount of land included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, in its waning days.
The action will shut down future drilling along the East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 250 million acres along the West Coast and 44 million acres of the Bering Sea along the Alaskan Coast. The law that President Joe Biden invoked to issue the policy does not give presidents explicit authority to revoke withdrawals approved by a former president, so the incoming Trump administration may have difficulty unwinding the ban as it pursues plans to unleash the U.S. energy sector.
“Today President Biden will take action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of…
