Biden is banning new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the US coast
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President Joe Biden has announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along much of the US coast in a move designed to bolster his environmental and climate legacy as he prepares to leave office.
The order will protect 625 million acres of ocean on the US East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as parts of Alaska’s northern Bering Sea, the White House said Monday.
The executive action is expected to complicate the policy agenda of President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to “drill, drill, drill” and increase US oil production, even though it is already at record levels.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have long known: that drilling on these shores could cause irreparable harm to the places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said.
The Trump campaign said it was a shameful decision designed to exact “political revenge on the American people.” The oil industry is likely to challenge Biden’s action in court and face opposition from Republicans in Congress.
This is a developing story