Biden bans oil, gas drilling from coastal areas; Trump vows reversal

President Joe Biden is withdrawing Southern California coastal areas from future oil and natural gas drilling operations Monday, along with millions more off-shore acres in other areas of the nation, the White House and interior secretary’s office announced Monday.

The Southern California withdrawal is part of 250 million acres of federal waters off the entire West Coast that are prime habitat for seals, sea lions, whales, fish and many species of seabirds, according to the White House. California has had a moratorium on new drilling leases in state waters since 1969, and the last federal lease sale in the area being withdrawn occurred in 1984.

“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,” Biden said in a statement. “It is not worth the risks. 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.”

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the drilling ban recognizes the environmental and economic risks and potential harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweighs the limited energy resource potential.

“President Biden’s actions … are part of our work across this Administration to make bold and enduring changes that recognize the impact of oil and gas drilling on our nation’s coastlines,” Haaland said in a statement. “The President is taking action that reflects what states, tribes and local communities have shared with us — a strong and overwhelming need to support resilient oceans and coastlines by protecting them from unnecessary oil and gas development.”

Biden’s Monday memoranda withdraws significant portions of the Outer Continental Shelf from future oil and natural gas leasing, including the entire U.S. Pacific and Eastern Atlantic coasts, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the remainder of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area offshore of Alaska.

Altogether the withdrawal areas cover more than 625 million acres and represent the largest withdrawal in U.S. history.

The withdrawals are expected to help protect coastal communities, which are home to nearly 40% of Americans, as well as marine ecosystems and local economies — including fishing, recreation and tourism — from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling, according to the White House.

On federal lands and waters, oil production in 2024 reached an all-time high, the Interior Department reported. In fiscal year 2023, the Outer Continental Shelf produced about 675 million barrels of oil and 796 billion cubic feet of gas, which amounted to roughly 14% of all oil production and 2% of natural gas production in the United States.

“Nearly all of this production is in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico, where industry has yet to produce on more than 80 percent of the 12 million acres already under lease,” according to the department.

Nearly 400 municipalities and over 2,300 elected local, state, tribal and federal officials from the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coast regions have opposed the expansion of offshore drilling “in view of its severe environmental, health, and economic threats,” White House officials said. Nearly every governor along the East and West coasts have expressed concerns about expanded offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry activity in the newly withdrawn areas historically has been very low, according to the Interior Department. There is no active oil and gas exploration and development in the eastern U.S. Atlantic or the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, and there are around 30 decades long existing leases off Southern California, and approximately 12 in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday vowed to reverse Biden’s drilling ban.

“I see it just came over that Biden has banned all oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory,” Trump told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt. “It’s ridiculous. … I have the right to unban it immediately.”

Trump added that the nation has “oil and gas at a level that nobody else has. And we’re going to take advantage of it. And when I see somebody saying he’s going to ban 625 million acres, he doesn’t know what that is. He doesn’t even know what 625 million acres would look like. And we can’t let that happen to our country. It’s really our greatest economic asset and we’re not going to let that happen to our country.”

The withdrawals do not affect rights under existing leases, White House officials said.  

Updated Jan. 6, 2025, 10:20 a.m.

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