Biden’s last-minute oil drilling ban should be undone by Congress

Just days before the end of his administration, President Biden on January 6 announced a ban on new drilling and further oil and natural gas development on millions of acres of U.S. coastal and offshore waters. CEI energy policy expert Daren Bakst criticizes the anti-energy maneuver and urges Congress to un-do it:

“President Joe Biden has engaged in a war on energy since he took office. Now, in the waning hours of his presidency, he has decided to escalate his efforts by blocking the sale of new oil and natural gas leases on over 625 million acres of U.S. ocean.

“There’s no expiration date for his withdrawal of areas from leasing, meaning these areas will be blocked from leasing until action is taken to revoke it. President-elect Donald Trump may be able to revoke the withdrawal, but there is some legal question regarding the authority of a president to do so. However, it is still an option.

“Ideally, Congress would address this last-minute Biden action that will hurt Americans, in part, since it would limit the supply of oil and natural gas in the future and thereby drive up prices. There is a lot of harmful Biden energy policy that legislators and the Trump administration will need to undo. At the top of the list should be undoing Biden’s unilateral withdrawal of U.S. ocean from future oil and gas leasing.”

 Correction: A previous version of this statement identified the Congressional Review Act (CRA) as a means to undo Biden’s action; however, under our current analysis, it is unclear if the CRA could achieve this objective.