A view of the offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the Pacific Ocean on January 5, 2025 in Seal Beach, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump He said Tuesday he would reverse the president Joe BidenHe banned offshore drilling along most of the US coast as soon as he took office.
“I will repeal it on day one,” Trump said at a news conference, although he noted that reversing the ban might require filing a lawsuit in court.
Biden announced Monday that he would protect 625 million acres of ocean from offshore oil and gas drilling along the east and west coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska's northern Bering Sea. The President issued the ban through a provision in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953.
Trump's order trying to overturn the ban will likely end up in court and could eventually be overturned.
During his first term, Trump attempted to issue an executive order rescinding President Barack Obama's use of the Arctic and Atlantic Waters from Offshore Drilling Act. A federal court eventually ruled that Trump's order was illegal and that overturning the ban would require an action by Congress.
The Republican Party enjoys a majority in both chambers of the new Congress.
