WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has issued two Presidential Memoranda barring offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in future from U.S. Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska.
The withdrawals have no expiration date, and prohibit all future oil and natural gas leasing in the areas withdrawn. President Biden first used this authority in January of 2021 when he restored protections for part of the Northern Bering Sea, and again in March 2023 to withdraw 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea from future oil and gas leasing, which completed protections for the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean.
With this, Biden has taken action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing, covering more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean.
The outgoing President has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential, according to the White House.
Nearly 400 municipalities and more than 2,300 elected local, state, Tribal, and federal officials across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts have formally opposed the expansion of offshore drilling in these areas in view of its severe environmental, health, and economic threats.
Nearly every Governor along the East and West Coasts - Republicans and Democrats alike - has expressed concerns about expanded oil and gas drilling off their coastlines. In Alaska, the new Northern Bering Sea protections are consistent with a long-standing request from more than 70 coastal Tribes based on the need to help sustain a vital and threatened ocean area.
There are currently no active oil and natural gas leases in Federal waters off the eastern Atlantic coast. But when a time-limited withdrawal issued by the previous administration expire in 2032, it would open 334 million acres of the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from Canada to the southern tip of Florida, and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.
The Alaskan Congressional delegation had opposed previous proposals to allow oil and gas leasing and drilling in the remaining portion of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area in Alaska.
In a statement after issuing the Presidential Memoranda, Biden said, 'The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a man-made catastrophe that took the lives of eleven people and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is a solemn reminder of the costs and risks of offshore drilling to the health and resilience of our coasts and fisheries and underscores the importance of the legal protections I am putting in place today.'
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