President Joe Biden issued an executive order banning new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline, including significant areas of the California coast. Biden used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 to withdraw the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas from oil or natural gas leasing. The withdrawal does not affect existing leases in the withdrawn areas.
The order included approximately 625 million acres of ocean along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bering Sea in Alaska. The California areas include the Northern California, Central California, and Southern California OCS planning areas.
“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. It is not worth the risks,” Biden wrote in a statement issued with the order. “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.”
Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement in support of the ban. “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,” the governor stated. “New offshore drilling has no place in California, and the President’s action strengthens our work to protect the coast.”
Biden has removed 670 million acres of ocean from drilling, the most by any president. While President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reverse the move, a 2019 court decision held that the president does not have authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to overturn prior bans. Congress, however, could reverse the decision.
Offshore drilling will likely be an ongoing area of political conflict during the Trump presidency. In his first term, Trump stated that U.S. policy was to encourage energy exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf. Coastal states opposed the policy. In one of his first acts in office, Biden ordered a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands, including offshore. (see California’s Energy Transition from Oil State to Fossil Free: Offshore Drilling.)