In the latest last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Biden permanently banned future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The ban will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling along the entire East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement. “It is not worth the risks.”
“Look, it’s ridiculous. I’ll unban it immediately,” Trump said in a radio interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”
Hold on one minute, though.
Trump has forgotten that he would have to get Congress to change it before he could reverse Biden’s move.