Replacing Biden’s Enough: Protecting America’s Coasts and Oceans with a U.S. Oil Tax Deferral
Biden’s actions, which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to unwind, since they would likely require an act of Congress to repeal. Trump had a complicated history with offshore drilling. He directed the Interior secretary to prohibit drilling in the waters off of Florida and Georgia until 2032 in a Memorandum signed in 2020.
The oil industry has objected to the moratorium. “Americans send a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything we can to restrict it,” Sommers said in a statement. The API suggested that reversing this “politically-motivated” action should be a top priority for Congress.
The announcement was celebrated by green groups. “We see this as an epic ocean victory,” says Joseph Gordon, campaign director for Oceana, a nonprofit that advocates for ocean conservation worldwide. “This is a commitment to turning the corner from fossil fuels to clean energy. We hope that people who live near the ocean and see places protected today will be reassured by the fact that those places are not subject to offshore drilling. [experience] an oil spill like Deepwater Horizon,” the devastating 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is, of course, a familiar divide, with industry representatives on one side and environmental groups on the other. For his part, Biden rejected that framing. “We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy,” he said in a statement, calling it a false choice. “Protecting America’s coasts and ocean is the right thing to do.”
After former President Barack Obama made the same move late in his administration, Trump tried to reverse it, but couldn’t. Courts found that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act does not contain any provision for President’s to remove protection for waters.
Kevin Book of Clearview Energy Partners insists that the protections can not be undone by the Trump administration. “The administration, having done this once before, will probably look to a congressional pathway as a means of resolution,” he says.
A filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill could be a path for reopening these acres to oil development. That would be attractive not just as a way to follow through on Trump’s campaign promises to “drill, baby, drill,” but also for the budgetary benefits: offshore oil lease auctions make money for the federal government.
Book says with Republicans in Congress promising a reconciliation bill this summer, these protections — or some of them — might be rolled back as early as this year.
Joe Biden: Protecting the Coasts of the U.S. to Save the World from the Cosmic Carbon Footprints of Climate Change
“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.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” he said.
The action came after Trump initially moved to vastly expand offshore drilling, before retreating amid widespread opposition in Florida and other coastal states.
Trump has pledged to establish what he calls American ” energy dominance” around the world as he works to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from Biden’s focus on climate change
Environmental advocates hailed Biden’s action, saying new oil and gas drilling must be sharply curtailed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. 2024 was the hottest in recorded history.
Gordon thanked Biden for listening to the voices from coastal communities that do not support drilling and for their bipartisan tradition of protecting the coast.
The spokeswoman said Biden’s action was “designed to exact revenge on American people that voted for the president to raise drilling and gas prices.” Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
The plan for five years of drilling has three proposed offshore sales in the next ten years. If the Democratic administration wants to continue expanding offshore wind it will need at least three lease sales.
