President Joe Biden has banned all future offshore oil and gas drilling in a last-ditch effort to stop Donald Trump from keeping his promise to expand offshoring drilling.

It’s a blatant move to try and sabotage the incoming Trump administration as the MAGA die hard has pledged to reverse Biden’s climate change policies when he takes office in 14 days.

Trump campaigned on a ‘drill baby, drill’ slogan and has pledged to throw out all of Biden’s green energy policies on Day One.

In an effort to get ahead of Trump, Biden declared he is using his authority under the 70-year-old Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to block all future oil and natural gas leasing in most U.S. coastal waters.

The ban would stop offshoring drilling in all federal waters off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska.

Biden’s order will not affect large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs, but it would protect coastlines along California, Florida and other states from future drilling.

The action – which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters – could be difficult for Trump to unwind, since it will likely require an act of Congress to repeal.

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mocked Biden’s move writing on X: ‘Joe Biden clearly wants high gas prices to be his legacy.’

She went on to slam the ‘a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices.’

Joe Biden, pictured on Sunday, has moved to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most US coastal waters in a last-minute effort to

President-elect Donald Trump, pictured in October last year, has vowed to establish what he calls American ‘energy dominance’ around the world as he seeks to boost US oil and gas drilling and move away from Biden’s focus on climate change

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mocked Biden’s move writing on X: ‘ Joe Biden clearly wants high gas prices to be his legacy’

‘Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.’

During his term, Biden limited new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, drawing criticism from drilling states and companies.

But Trump has vowed to establish what he calls American ‘energy dominance’ around the world as he seeks to boost oil and gas drilling and move away from Biden’s focus on climate change.

Biden said the move was aligned with both his climate change agenda and his goal to conserve 30 per cent of American lands and waters by 2030.

He also invoked the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the low drilling potential of the areas included in the ban did not justify the public health and economic risks of future leasing.

‘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 added.

But the Lands Act, which allows presidents to withdraw areas from mineral leasing and drilling, does not grant them the legal authority to overturn prior bans, according to a 2019 court ruling.

That order came in response to Trump’s effort to reverse Arctic and Atlantic Ocean withdrawals made by former President Barack Obama at the end of his presidency.

Trump signed a memorandum in 2020 directing the Interior secretary to prohibit drilling in the waters off both Florida coasts, and off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina until 2032.

The action came after he initially moved to vastly expand offshore drilling, before retreating amid widespread opposition in Florida and other coastal states. Biden’s decision will protect the same area with no expiration.

In balancing multiple uses of America’s oceans, Biden said it was clear that the areas he is withdrawing from fossil fuel use show ‘relatively minimal potential’ that does not justify possible environmental, public health and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling.

Biden’s actions, which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be difficult for Trump to unwind, since they would likely require an act of Congress to repeal. Pictured is h a view of offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the Pacific Ocean on January 5, 2025 in Seal Beach, California

Environmental advocates are hailing Biden’s ban, 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.

‘This is an epic ocean victory!’ said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana.

Gordon thanked Biden ‘for listening to the voices from coastal communities’ that oppose drilling and ‘contributing to the bipartisan tradition of protecting our coasts.’

He added: ‘Our treasured coastal communities are now safeguarded for future generations.’

But an oil and gas industry trade group said the decision would harm American energy security and should be reversed by Congress.

‘We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing,’ American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers said in a statement.

Biden has proposed up to three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, but none in Alaska, as he tries to navigate between energy companies seeking greater oil and gas production and environmental activists who want him to shut down new offshore drilling in the fight against climate change.

A five-year drilling plan approved in 2023 includes proposed offshore sales in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The three lease sales are the minimum number the Democratic administration could legally offer if it wants to continue expanding offshore wind development.

Under the terms of a 2022 climate law, the government must offer at least 60 million acres of offshore oil and gas leases in any one-year period before it can offer offshore wind leases.

Biden, whose decision to approve the huge Willow oil project in Alaska drew strong condemnation from environmental groups, has previously limited offshore drilling in other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

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