Biden bans offshore drilling across huge area of US

US President Joe Biden has announced a ban on oil and gas drilling off the coast of America, just weeks before Donald Trump takes office.

The ban announced by Mr. Biden covers the entire Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast of California, Oregon and Washington and part of the Bering Sea in Alaska.

It’s the latest in a series of last-minute weather deals the Biden administration has made before Trump takes the White House.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump promised to “roll out” domestic oil production in order to reduce the cost of natural gas, even though the US has already seen an increase in oil production.

Biden said in a statement: “My proposal reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that offshore drilling can cause irreversible damage to the places we love and it is not necessary meeting the energy needs of our country.

“They are not worth the risk.”

Trump has promised to reverse Biden’s conservation and climate change policies when he takes office this month. However, the new ban does not have an expiration date and it may be difficult for Republicans to change it.

Biden is doing so under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which allows presidents to exempt areas from leasing and drilling.

The law, however, does not give them the power to cancel bans, according to a 2019 court decision.

Trump himself used the law to block the sale of offshore drilling rights in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida until 2032. Biden’s proposal would protect the same area without an expiration date.

The restriction covers more than 625 million acre feet (253 million hectares) of water.

After it was announced last week that Mr Biden would issue the ban, Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said it was a “disgraceful decision”.

He said it was “designed to take revenge on the American people who gave President Trump the responsibility to increase drilling and lower oil prices”.

Environmental groups, however, cheered the decision.

Joseph Gordon, from the conservation organization Oceana, said: “This is a huge victory for the ocean.

“Our beloved coastal areas are now being protected for future generations.”