A view of the Esther offshore oil and gas platform in the Pacific Ocean on January 5, 2025, in Seal Beach, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump Said Tuesday he would overthrow the president Joe BidenAs soon as he took office, he banned offshore drilling along much of the U.S. coastline.
“I will lift the ban on day one,” Trump said at a news conference, but he said reversing the ban would likely require litigation in court.
Biden announced on Monday that he would protect 625 million acres of ocean from offshore oil and gas drilling along the east and west coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska’s northern Bering Sea. The president enacted the ban through a provision of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953.
Trump’s attempt to reverse the ban will likely end up in court and could eventually be overturned.
During his first term, Trump sought to issue an executive order overturning President Barack Obama’s use of laws to protect Arctic and Atlantic waters from offshore drilling. A federal court ultimately ruled that Trump’s order was unlawful and that rescinding the ban would require congressional action.
Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the new Congress.
