Using a decades-old law, President Biden reportedly intends to prohibit oil and gas drilling in specific federal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This move could prove challenging for the impending Trump administration to reverse.
According to individuals familiar with the White House’s plans, the decree, which is anticipated to be issued as soon as next week, is anticipated to invoke the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
This act grants the president extensive discretion to rescind from consideration currently unleased lands in federal offshore waters.
The law has been invoked only a few times and does not include a procedure for a new president to reverse the actions of a predecessor.
The law was put to the test during the inaugural administration of President-elect Donald Trump, which endeavored to reopen portions of the Arctic Ocean that the Obama administration had prohibited weeks prior to Trump’s taking office in 2017.
In 2019, a federal magistrate determined that Trump would require congressional authorization to resume drilling in the Arctic regions that Obama had prohibited.
As part of his campaign pledge to reduce the cost of energy in the United States by 50% or more, Trump declared that he would commence oil extraction in the country.
His argument is that the production of oil and natural gas will be unleashed, and prices at the pump will be reduced as a result of weakened environmental regulations, quicker permitting, and other measures.
The advancement of clean-energy technologies that would mitigate the danger of climate change has been one of Biden’s primary policy initiatives.
The purpose of these technologies, which encompass solar and wind energy, is to replace the consumption of oil and gas, which generate greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
The fossil-fuel industry is in favor of Trump’s less restrictive policies, as he has criticized Biden’s clean-energy agenda.
Biden’s last-minute action is part of a comprehensive initiative to secure his environmental legacy in the final months of his presidency. This initiative is also allocating billions of dollars to protect preferred projects prior to Trump’s inauguration.
The administration has endeavored to safeguard clean-energy initiatives at ports throughout the United States.
In October, the Environmental Protection Agency granted billions of dollars to numerous ports for the purpose of investing in new solar arrays, decarbonized vehicles, and other environmentally friendly equipment.
A $400 billion clean-energy financing program within the Energy Department is one of the most aggressive initiatives of the Biden administration.
The office announced in December that it would provide a record $15 billion low-interest loan commitment to California utility company PG&E to support hundreds of projects that are designed to improve the electrical infrastructure and combat the effects of climate change.
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