President Joe Biden is once again working to undermine President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming agenda, rushing to impose new restrictions on domestic oil production after President Trump promised to “drill, baby, drill” to increase American energy independence.
President Biden is planning to issue a decree permanently banning new offshore oil rig development off parts of the U.S. coast, according to a Thursday report from Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The new executive decree is reportedly coming in the next few days and will stop the sale of an unspecified amount of coastal waters for oil development.
Bloomberg’s source did not tell the paper which waters would be covered under Biden’s ban.
The outlet pointed out that recent discussions on offshore oil in the Biden Administration have focused on the Californian coast and sections of the Gulf of Mexico off Florida.
The paper suggested that Biden will issue his declaration under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
The 72-year-old law grants the government the authority to protect offshore waters from gas leasing but does not explicitly grant the president authority to revoke those protections.
Without explicit authority to revoke Biden’s protections, Trump may not be able to undo the restrictions with a simple executive order.
While Biden works to prevent offshore oil drilling, he has been a staunch supporter of inefficient, expensive, and environmentally harmful offshore wind turbines.
[RELATED: Biden-Harris Admin Set to Auction 850,000 Acres in Gulf of Maine for Offshore Wind Development…]
Environmental activists often promote offshore wind development as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels, while failing to mention the potential downsides, such as harm to the fishing industry and wildlife, and environmental damage.
Last summer, a wind turbine off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, broke apart, spreading chemicals and fiberglass debris.
In the last weeks of his historically unpopular presidency, Biden also took aim at land-based domestic oil production.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced upcoming restrictions on Monday, potentially imposing a two-year moratorium on oil and gas development in 264,000 acres of Nevada’s Ruby Mountains area.
The protections will go into effect after a 90-day public comment period, with the potential for those restrictions to be extended for a 20-year period.
Since the Nevada restrictions will not take effect until after Biden leaves office, Trump may be able to reverse them as part of his promise to increase domestic energy production.
Biden’s attempts to impose last-minute restrictions on domestic oil production are just his most recent efforts to hobble the upcoming second Trump administration.
Under a month after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5, Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S. long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
The long-range strikes crossed a red line set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, largely because the strikes allegedly require direct participation from American personnel and the use of American GPS targeting.
President Putin has since warned that the strikes could trigger a nuclear response, and Biden’s authorization will certainly harm Trump’s ability to secure a negotiated peace.
Lame-duck Biden has also worked to undermine Trump’s immigration agenda, pushing forward with an app that will decrease interactions between illegal immigrants and authorities.
After a December request from Maine politicians—U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), and Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine)—the Biden Administration made permanent a temporary work authorization extension for asylum seekers.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33805 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=33805">10 Comments
Trump and his team are now emboldened like never before. They will undo all these sore loser temper tantrum stunts the soon to be forgotten mumbling fool.
People who cross our border “ illegally “ rewarded with food ,clothing ,medical care ,housing ,education , and state funded debit cards , and some even allowed to vote .
Priceless .
Welcome to Maine .
This president and his staff will go down in history as doing more damage too this country than any preceding. The Demo/Commie Party is a true enemy of the people, and should be outlawed with it’s titular head Obama put in prison.
Thy only thing I remember Jimmy Carter about is long gas line. Bidden will be remembered also for long cold nights in Maine
Angus all these + comments are about you man
Anything a president does without congress can be undone by a president. If you say he hasn’t the authority to cancel that’s fine trump can say “doesn’t take affect for 200 years” or shall be postponed in times of national energy shortages. Weasel words work both ways.
Well the same can be done with offshore wind as well. End all green energy subsidies while Trump is at it.
I pay my own heating oil bill.
I pay my own cooking gas bill .
I pay my own firewood bill .
I RESENT having to pay to subsidize YOUR solar panels and YOUR inefficient heat pump .
Biden is despicable human yet the media still talks highly of him. Disgusting.
Angus, Joe is trying to put us under. What are you doing about it? You are an Independent for yourself.