Here is the content summarized into an article:
Biden Bans New Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling Along Most of US Coastline
The White House announced on Monday that President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline. The move is aimed at protecting 625 million acres of ocean along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s Bering Sea from "environmental and economic risks and harms." The ban is also seen as an attempt to protect Biden’s climate legacy from the energy policy set to be pursued by Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump.
The ban is effective immediately and will use an obscure provision of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to indefinitely withdraw unleased lands from the outer continental shelf. This move is significant, as it exceeds the 119 million acres of land protected by former President Barack Obama in 2016.
Biden said that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage and is unnecessary to meet the nation’s energy needs. He stated that "we do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our ocean healthy, our coastlines resilient, and the food they produce secure and keeping energy prices low. Those are false choices."
The move could frustrate Trump’s plans to gain an economic boost from increasing oil and gas production. Trump has previously sought to overturn Obama’s 2016 decision to invoke OCSLA and has named a new energy chief who has expressed support for increased fossil fuel production.
The ban is seen as a victory for environmental groups, which have long argued that further drilling is contradictory to the US government’s goal of reducing emissions that lead to climate change. The move is also expected to be welcomed by states, tribes, and local communities who have expressed concerns about the impact of oil and gas drilling on their coastlines.
