President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to ban offshore oil drilling, according to Bloomberg.
An executive order on the matter is expected to be issued “within days,” the report says. The declaration is rooted in a 1953 provision that allows the White House to permanently stop oil drilling in U.S. waters without explicitly giving presidents the ability to revoke the order.
The New York Times reported that “section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives a president wide leeway to bar drilling” but it “does not include language that would allow Mr. Trump or any future president to revoke a ban.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, said the Biden administration was waging a “war on American energy.”
“When he takes office, President Trump will make America energy dominant again, protect our energy jobs, and bring down the cost of living for working families,” Leavitt said in a statement to the publication.
Earlier this week, the Biden administration announced steps to protect Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, considering a “20-year withdrawal of the Ruby Mountain area from operation of the public land laws, mining laws, and mineral and geothermal leasing laws, subject to valid existing rights,” a press release on the matter says.
“The Ruby Mountains are cherished by local communities for their scenic value, cultural heritage, numerous wildlife and benefit to the local economy through a thriving outdoor recreation industry,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said. “Today, we are taking an important and sensible step to pause new mining claims to ensure that we have the science and public input necessary to inform proposed protections of the Ruby Mountains area for future generations.”
