Biden bans offshore drilling across a large swath of the United States

US President Joe Biden announced a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration along most of the US coast, weeks before Donald Trump took office.

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

This is the latest in a series of last-minute climate policy actions taken by the Biden administration before Trump returns to the White House.

During his election campaign, Trump pledged to “unlock” domestic fossil fuel production in an effort to reduce gas costs, even though the United States is already seeing record high extraction rates.

“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts can cause irreparable damage to the places we cherish and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement.

“It’s not worth the risk.”

Trump has pledged to reverse Biden’s environmental conservation and climate change policies when he takes office later this month. But the new ban has no expiration date and may be difficult for a Republican to repeal.

Biden is taking the action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which allows presidents to divest areas from mineral leasing and drilling.

But the law does not give them the legal authority to overturn the previous ban, according to a 2019 court ruling.

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

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

After it was reported last week that Biden would issue the ban, Carolyn Levitt, Trump’s new press secretary, called the move a “disgraceful decision.”

She said the order was “designed to retaliate politically against the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices.”

But environmental groups welcomed the decision.

“This is an epic victory for the oceans,” said Joseph Gordon, of the conservation group Oceana.

“Our cherished coastal communities are now protected for future generations.”