By announcing on Monday January 6 the ban on new offshore drilling over a huge expanse of sea, Joe Biden is trying to get in the way of a major campaign promise from Donald Trump, namely boosting gas and oil production. The Democratic president, who will hand over power on January 20 to his Republican successor, has decided, according to a press release, to ban any new drilling in a maritime area covering a total of more than 2.5 million square kilometers.
The ban, which has no end date, will apply along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Pacific coast, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, in the Bering Strait. A decision that President-elect Donald Trump, who is due to take office on January 20, intends to reverse ” immediately “he assured during a radio interview on Monday. “What is he doing?” Why is he doing this?he asked. I will cancel the ban immediately. »
“Now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren”justified Joe Biden in the press release. “It is clear to me that the relatively minor fossil fuel potential of protected areas does not justify the risks to the environment, public health and the economy that new concessions and drilling would pose.”he added.
“We don't have to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between preserving our oceans, our coasts and the food they produce, and keeping energy prices low. These are false alternatives”he denounced.
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“Political revenge”
The message is clearly intended for the Republican president-elect, who, during the campaign, promised to drill with all his might to lower the cost of gasoline, while the production of hydrocarbons in the United States is already evolving at levels never reached.
According to the American press, however, it could be difficult for the 78-year-old billionaire to reverse the decision of his Democratic predecessor. Joe Biden relies on a 1953 law giving authority to the federal government over the exploitation of seabed resources off the coast, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. This text does not expressly provide for the right for the president to reverse, without going through Congress, a decision to ban new drilling.
Environmental NGOs, on the contrary, welcome the decision, before Donald Trump came to power, which contests the reality of human-caused climate change. “It’s a classic victory for the oceans”Joseph Gordon, for the NGO Oceana, has already reacted, anticipating the announcement.
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