Biden Bans Fossil Fuel Drilling Across 600 Million Acres Of U.S. Waters

The sweeping protections are likely to survive the incoming Trump administration’s fossil fuel bonanza.

President Joe Biden on Monday permanently banned oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of federal waters.

Along with cementing Biden’s legacy on combating global climate change, the withdrawal is likely to deliver a lasting blow to President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for unfettered fossil fuel development in the coming years.

Biden’s order — the largest such mineral withdrawal in U.S. history — permanently protects coastal waters spanning the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico and 44 million acres of the Northern Bering Sea, off the coast of western Alaska.

In a statement Monday, Biden invoked the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, calling it “a solemn reminder of the costs and risks of offshore drilling,” and said drilling in the newly protected coastal areas “could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.”

“It is not worth the risks,” he said. “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.”