Released January 07, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In a series of four memoranda issued Monday by the White House, President Joe Biden instructed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to remove more than 625 million acres of federal offshore waters from oil and gas leasing. The affected waters are along the entire East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. The affected off-limits zone is equal to about one-quarter of the land area of the U.S.
Biden took this action to further seal his legacy as a protector of the environment, contrasting his record to the pledges of incoming president Donald Trump to "drill, baby, drill."
A statement from the White House said Biden issued the four memoranda because he "determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies--including fishing, recreation, and tourism--from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling."
"The relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling," Biden said in a statement.
He added: "My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation's energy needs. As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren."
Biden's intention to issue the memoranda started leaking out late last week. It was released Monday, as the new Congress was certifying Trump's victory and as federal offices in the Washington area were closed for a snow emergency.
In a statement issued Sunday, responding to the leaked reports, the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's largest trade group, cried foul. API President and Chief Executive Mike Sommers said, "American voters sent a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything possible to restrict it."
"Congress and the incoming administration should fully leverage the nation's vast offshore resources as a critical source of affordable energy, government revenue and stability around the world. We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing."
Other oil and gas groups echoed the API's sharp criticism of the move.
U.S. offshore production accounts for about 14% of total U.S. crude oil production, or nearly 2 million barrels of oil per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. If that acreage is leased and developed, the API projected the federal government could reap billions of new revenue by 2040.
The API called on Congress to make reversal of this "politically-motivated decision" a top priority. The trade group has urged the incoming Trump administration to draft a new five-year offshore leasing program, changing course from the weakest offshore program in history under the Biden administration.
Trump pledged to reverse Biden's move, but it's not clear what options are open to him or Congress. Unlike a presidential executive order, Biden's memoranda to DOI cannot be reversed by a subsequent executive order from Trump after he becomes president January 20.
In issuing his memoranda, Biden cited the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the president broad powers to withdraw federal waters from future leasing. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that such withdrawals cannot be undone without an act of Congress.
Also, the memoranda may not be vulnerable to challenge under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overturn a Cabinet-level agency's actions and rulemakings in the last 60 legislative days before a change of administrations. But White House memoranda might be non-reviewable under CRA, which only covers rulemakings from Cabinet agencies like the Department of Energy (DOE).
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), the new chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would seek to overturn the decision under the CRA, which only requires a majority vote in both houses of Congress. The incoming Congress has narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
In a statement, Lee blasted the move as "yet another attempt by the Biden administration to undercut the incoming Trump administration and ignore the will of the American people--who decisively voted to reverse this war on American energy. "Senate Republicans will push back using every tool at our disposal."
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team, said in an email: "This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill."
The Biden administration has permitted the fewest offshore lease sales in history--allowing just three over the next five years--and has blocked drilling and mining in areas of Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada and elsewhere.
Trump's promised repeal could be challenged by environmental groups, and several legal experts said there was a strong chance that Biden's ban could survive.
An article in The New York Times observed that while section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives the president wide leeway to bar drilling, it does not include language that would allow any president to revoke a ban.
Trump has already tried and failed to repeal such a ban. In 2015, President Barack Obama banned offshore drilling in about 98% of federally owned Arctic waters as well as 3.8 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean home to unique deepwater corals and rare fish. During his first presidency, Trump repealed the order but environmental groups, led by the nonprofit Earthjustice, sued. In 2019, a Federal District Court judge in Alaska ruled that the ban could not be undone without an act of Congress, according to The New York Times.
While the case could be a powerful precedent for Biden, others noted that it was never fully resolved, according to the Times.
The Trump administration appealed the Alaska federal court decision. But then Biden won the 2020 election. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to dismiss the case and Biden's administration reissued Obama's bans, according to the Times. Moreover, some lawyers argue that the Alaska ruling applies only to that state.
While campaigning for reelection in 2020, Trump issued a 10-year moratorium on offshore oil exploration off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Biden moratoria, however, would permanently bar oil and gas development on the OCS unless Republicans are able to amend the original statue, the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, according to The Washington Post. But amending that law may require 60 votes in the Senate, a stretch in a body where the GOP controls only 53 votes. And some GOP senators, such as Susan Collins (Maine) might not look favorably on a Trump effort to open OCS waters to oil and gas development.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
Biden took this action to further seal his legacy as a protector of the environment, contrasting his record to the pledges of incoming president Donald Trump to "drill, baby, drill."
A statement from the White House said Biden issued the four memoranda because he "determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies--including fishing, recreation, and tourism--from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling."
"The relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling," Biden said in a statement.
He added: "My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation's energy needs. As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren."
Biden's intention to issue the memoranda started leaking out late last week. It was released Monday, as the new Congress was certifying Trump's victory and as federal offices in the Washington area were closed for a snow emergency.
In a statement issued Sunday, responding to the leaked reports, the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's largest trade group, cried foul. API President and Chief Executive Mike Sommers said, "American voters sent a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything possible to restrict it."
"Congress and the incoming administration should fully leverage the nation's vast offshore resources as a critical source of affordable energy, government revenue and stability around the world. We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing."
Other oil and gas groups echoed the API's sharp criticism of the move.
U.S. offshore production accounts for about 14% of total U.S. crude oil production, or nearly 2 million barrels of oil per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. If that acreage is leased and developed, the API projected the federal government could reap billions of new revenue by 2040.
The API called on Congress to make reversal of this "politically-motivated decision" a top priority. The trade group has urged the incoming Trump administration to draft a new five-year offshore leasing program, changing course from the weakest offshore program in history under the Biden administration.
Trump pledged to reverse Biden's move, but it's not clear what options are open to him or Congress. Unlike a presidential executive order, Biden's memoranda to DOI cannot be reversed by a subsequent executive order from Trump after he becomes president January 20.
In issuing his memoranda, Biden cited the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the president broad powers to withdraw federal waters from future leasing. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that such withdrawals cannot be undone without an act of Congress.
Also, the memoranda may not be vulnerable to challenge under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overturn a Cabinet-level agency's actions and rulemakings in the last 60 legislative days before a change of administrations. But White House memoranda might be non-reviewable under CRA, which only covers rulemakings from Cabinet agencies like the Department of Energy (DOE).
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), the new chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would seek to overturn the decision under the CRA, which only requires a majority vote in both houses of Congress. The incoming Congress has narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
In a statement, Lee blasted the move as "yet another attempt by the Biden administration to undercut the incoming Trump administration and ignore the will of the American people--who decisively voted to reverse this war on American energy. "Senate Republicans will push back using every tool at our disposal."
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team, said in an email: "This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill."
The Biden administration has permitted the fewest offshore lease sales in history--allowing just three over the next five years--and has blocked drilling and mining in areas of Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada and elsewhere.
Trump's promised repeal could be challenged by environmental groups, and several legal experts said there was a strong chance that Biden's ban could survive.
An article in The New York Times observed that while section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives the president wide leeway to bar drilling, it does not include language that would allow any president to revoke a ban.
Trump has already tried and failed to repeal such a ban. In 2015, President Barack Obama banned offshore drilling in about 98% of federally owned Arctic waters as well as 3.8 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean home to unique deepwater corals and rare fish. During his first presidency, Trump repealed the order but environmental groups, led by the nonprofit Earthjustice, sued. In 2019, a Federal District Court judge in Alaska ruled that the ban could not be undone without an act of Congress, according to The New York Times.
While the case could be a powerful precedent for Biden, others noted that it was never fully resolved, according to the Times.
The Trump administration appealed the Alaska federal court decision. But then Biden won the 2020 election. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to dismiss the case and Biden's administration reissued Obama's bans, according to the Times. Moreover, some lawyers argue that the Alaska ruling applies only to that state.
While campaigning for reelection in 2020, Trump issued a 10-year moratorium on offshore oil exploration off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Biden moratoria, however, would permanently bar oil and gas development on the OCS unless Republicans are able to amend the original statue, the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, according to The Washington Post. But amending that law may require 60 votes in the Senate, a stretch in a body where the GOP controls only 53 votes. And some GOP senators, such as Susan Collins (Maine) might not look favorably on a Trump effort to open OCS waters to oil and gas development.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
