(Larry French/Getty Images for Friends of the Earth)
President Joe Biden is expected to "permanently" block new offshore oil and gas development in some U.S. coastal waters, a last-ditch effort to cement his climate legacy in his final weeks in the White House, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The executive order would prohibit the sale of new drilling rights in sections of America's outer continental shelf, sources familiar with the plan told Bloomberg. The move comes as Democratic lawmakers and environmental organizations have urged Biden to "maximize permanent protections" against offshore drilling.
Biden's order will likely complicate President-elect Donald Trump's "drill, baby, drill" agenda, aimed at ramping up fossil fuel production and opening federal lands and waters to drilling.
Unlike other executive orders, which Trump can easily reverse once he takes office, this latest executive order derives its power from a 72-year-old law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, that gives the incumbent president broad powers to restrict oil and gas in certain U.S. waters. The law does not explicitly grant the executive branch the right to withdraw the protections, according to Bloomberg.
The Biden administration as of July 11 had already closed off energy production on a staggering 41 million acres, according to federal data. That number is nearly equivalent to the entire land and water area of Florida. In a similar move last month, Biden announced an aggressive new climate goal to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by two-thirds by 2035. Trump's administration is likely to ignore that objective.
