Biden Moves to Keep Large Swath of US Coast Free of Oil and Gas Drilling

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden issued two memoranda on Monday intended to protect all Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Bering Sea off of Alaska from oil and gas leasing.

Biden first used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in January 2021 to restore protections for part of the Northern Bering Sea, and again in March 2023 to withdraw 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean) from oil and gas leasing.

The measures and efforts to preserve several “onshore sites,” such as the Thompson Divide in Colorado and the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, protected about 45 million acres.

But Monday’s action is of a whole other order of magnitude, adding another 625 million acres to the nation’s bank of protected lands — meaning Biden has now conserved more pristine land and water than any other president in history.

The White House noted in a press release that these withdrawals from exploration have no expiration date, and prohibit all future oil and natural gas leasing in the areas withdrawn.

It all happened, administration officials said, because the president determined 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 White House said.

The withdrawals also advance two important administration priorities: honoring and protecting areas of significance to tribal nations and indigenous peoples as well as states and other stakeholders; and helping to ensure our oceans and coasts are resilient to the threats of climate change and nature loss. 

According to the White House, nearly 400 municipalities and over 2,300 elected local, state, tribal and federal officials across the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts have formally opposed the expansion of offshore drilling in these areas in view of its severe environmental, health and economic threats. 

“Nearly every governor along the East and West coasts — Republicans and Democrats alike — has expressed concerns about expanded oil and gas drilling off their coastlines,” the administration said in a press release. “In Alaska, the new Northern Bering Sea protections are consistent with a long-standing request from more than 70 coastal tribes based on the need to help sustain a vital and threatened ocean area, and the natural resources it contains that indigenous communities have stewarded and relied on for subsistence since time immemorial.”

In a statement released shortly after Biden’s action was announced, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said “hundreds of miles of California’s iconic coastline is now fully protected from expanded offshore drilling, thanks to today’s action by President Biden.”

“For decades, we have led the fight to protect the Pacific Coast and the millions of Californians who call these coastal communities home,” Newsom continued, thanking the administration “for taking this bold action that will pay dividends for generations to come.”

“New offshore drilling has no place in California, and the president’s action strengthens our work to protect the coast,” Newsom said.

The breakdown of newly protected coastal waters is as follows:

• 334 million acres encompassing the entire eastern U.S. Atlantic Coast, from Canada to the southern tip of Florida, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. 

There are currently no active oil and natural gas leases in federal waters off the eastern Atlantic Coast. The southern section of this withdrawal matches a previous congressional withdrawal enacted by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, and a subsequent time-limited 12(a) withdrawal issued by the previous administration that would have expired in 2032 without Monday’s protections. 

According to the White House, the ban on oil and gas drilling in these areas will safeguard the multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism economies in these states. 

• 250 million acres on the Pacific Coast along California, Oregon and Washington. 

These waters are prime habitat for seals, sea lions, whales, fish and countless seabirds. 

The state of California has had a moratorium on issuing new leases in its state waters since 1969, and the last federal lease sale in the area being withdrawn was offshore of Southern California in 1984. The governors of these states have called for full protection of their coasts for decades.

• 44 million acres comprising the remaining previously unprotected portion of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area in Alaska. 

The Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area was established in 2016 and includes one of the largest marine mammal migrations in the world — beluga and bowhead whales, walruses and seals travel the funnel of the Bering Strait each year to feed and breed in the Arctic. 

“This is an area where oil and gas development would pose severe dangers to coastal communities, and where the health of these waters is critically important to food security and to the culture of more than 70 coastal tribes, including the Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Inupiaq people who have relied on these resources for millennia,” the White House said. 

The Alaskan congressional delegation has opposed previous proposals to allow oil and gas leasing and drilling in the area.

The White House said Biden took the decision he made Monday in order to advance his America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to support locally led conservation efforts with a goal to protect, conserve and restore at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue