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| Joe Biden | Photo: Reuters |
US President Joe Biden has permanently banned drilling in 625 million acres for oil in vast swaths of the ocean, just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a move that has already promised to dramatically increase fossil fuel production.
The ban will apply to the entire Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as to the Pacific coast of California, Oregon, and Washington states, and to the Bering Sea near Alaska, the AFP news agency reported.
A White House statement said the president's announcement would protect more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of watersheds.
"As the entire nation's population is threatened by climate change and we move toward a clean energy economy, it's time to protect these shores for our children and grandchildren," Biden said in the statement.
Biden's ban has no set expiration date, making it legally and politically difficult for Trump to reverse. The president issued the ban under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which gives the federal government the authority to make decisions about offshore resource extraction.
But there is no specific wording on whether the law gives the president the power to overturn decisions to drill wells without Congressional approval.
During the election campaign, Donald Trump promised to increase domestic oil production to lower oil prices. However, the United States is already extracting record amounts of oil.
Last week, US media reported that Biden was considering imposing such a ban. Soon after, Trump's future press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, described the move as "a disgraceful" move. She said it was a political retaliation to punish US presidents who have voted in favor of Trump's policies of drilling wells and lowering oil prices.
However, various environmental organizations have welcomed Biden's move.
"This is a great victory for the ocean. Our coastal people will be protected for future generations," said Joseph Gordon, Oceana's director of climate change and energy.
The White House said that with this latest move, President Biden has protected more than 670 million acres of U.S. land, water, and oceans, more than any other president in history.