Weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration, US President Joe Biden announced a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along most of America’s coastline.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to “open up” domestic fossil fuel production to lower gas costs, even though the U.S. is already seeing record high production rates.
The ban announced by Biden covers the entire Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast near California, Oregon and Washington, and part of the Bering Sea near Alaska.
It’s the latest in a last-minute climate policy move by the Biden administration ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.
In a statement, Biden said: “My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: drilling on these beaches can cause irreversible damage to the places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.
“It’s not worth the risks.”
