Posted on January 6, 2025
The move would bar new oil and gas leases along the Atlantic coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast and portions of the northern Bering Sea, two people familiar with the plans said.
President Joe Biden will remove roughly 625 million acres of U.S. oceans from potential oil and gas drilling before he leaves office, according to two people familiar with the White House’s plans.
As soon as Monday, Biden will bar the sale of new oil and gas leases along the Atlantic coast, the Pacific coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the northern Bering Sea, the people said. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the White House’s plan ahead of an official announcement. The specific details about Biden’s plans were first reported by Bloomberg.
The move adds to a flurry of lame-duck decisions by Biden to cement his environmental legacy in the final days of his administration.
An offshore oil and gas leasing ban would cap a fraught four years for Biden, who has been accused of thwarting oil and gas development by that industry and congressional Republicans, even as the United States produced more oil than any nation in history. Biden has also been chastised by climate advocates for not acting more boldly to put the nation’s vast oil and gas program on the path to retirement.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team slammed the upcoming decision.
“Joe Biden clearly wants high gas prices to be his legacy,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance transition spokesperson. “This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
During his first administration, Trump considered opening all U.S. oceans to oil and gas drilling. But he later modified that approach. Shortly before the 2020 election, he inked his own 10-year offshore energy ban, including oil, gas and offshore wind, off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Trump could face challenges if he wants to reverse Biden’s broader offshore leasing ban. Revoking a prior president’s offshore oil and gas withdrawal, under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, would likely require an act of Congress.
Biden’s expected offshore oil and gas withdrawal may not affect the majority of offshore drilling in the U.S., which takes place in the central and western Gulf of Mexico. The federal government has not allowed drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico since the early 1990s.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
