Getty ImagesUS President Joe Biden announced a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration along most of the US coast, weeks before Donald Trump took office.
During his election campaign, Trump pledged to “unlock” domestic fossil fuel production in an effort to reduce gas costs, even though the United States is already seeing record high extraction rates.
The ban announced by Biden covers the entire Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in addition to the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and part of the Bering Sea off Alaska.
This is the latest in a series of last-minute climate policy actions taken by the Biden administration before Trump returns to the White House.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts can cause irreparable damage to the places we cherish and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement.
“It's not worth the risk.”
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