Tue Jan 07 12:10:00 IST 2025: ## Incoming President Trump Vows to Reverse Biden’s Offshore Drilling Ban, Faces Legal Hurdles
**Washington, D.C.** – President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to immediately overturn President Biden’s eleventh-hour ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. However, legal experts say reversing the ban, enacted just weeks before the inauguration, will be difficult due to a 70-year-old law.
Biden issued an executive order on Monday, permanently halting most new oil and gas leasing in approximately 625 million acres of coastal and offshore waters. The order, citing environmental concerns and the need to transition to a clean energy economy, covers the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea. It was issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).
Trump, who campaigned on expanding domestic oil and gas production to lower energy prices, called Biden’s action “ridiculous” and vowed to reverse it. He stated, “I’ll unban it immediately. We can’t let that happen to our country. It’s really our greatest economic asset.”
However, a 2019 federal court ruling determined that OCSLA does not grant presidents the power to overturn previous administrations’ bans. This means Trump would likely require congressional approval to undo Biden’s executive order.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, condemned Biden’s decision as “a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge.” She added, “Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
The clash highlights the deep partisan divide over energy policy and environmental protection. While Biden framed his action as necessary to protect coastal environments and advance the transition to clean energy, Trump and his supporters view it as an attack on American energy independence and economic prosperity. The legal battle to overturn the ban is expected to be a major focus in the early days of the Trump administration.
First Piper 