“Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
President Joe Biden faced sharp criticism from incoming Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday after Bloomberg reported plans to ban new offshore oil and gas developments in certain areas of the U.S. coast “within days.”
Biden’s expected move follows pressure from Democrats and environmental advocates urging him to block offshore drilling before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on January 20. Trump has pledged to expand American energy production and ease restrictions on oil and gas exploration in U.S. waters and on land. Leavitt asserted that Biden’s efforts would ultimately fail once Trump takes office.
“Joe Biden clearly wants high gas prices to be his legacy. This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices,” Leavitt stated in a release to The Daily Wire. “Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
According to Bloomberg, Biden’s proposed executive order would invoke a 1953 law that empowers presidents to permanently prohibit offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters, though it does not explicitly grant authority to reverse such bans implemented by previous administrations. The law, known as the “Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act,” governs federal jurisdiction over the outer continental shelf and assigns leasing responsibilities to the Department of the Interior (DOI).
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order to reverse former President Barack Obama’s withdrawal of hundreds of millions of acres of submerged land from potential drilling under the same 1953 statute. Legal experts remain divided over whether the law allows one president to overturn a predecessor’s drilling restrictions.
In 2023, Biden significantly reduced available lease opportunities for oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico, approving only three potential oil and gas lease sales – the lowest number in history – scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029. Additionally, the Biden administration recently implemented new environmental protections in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, including a 20-year ban on energy development across large portions of the range.
Trump has reiterated his commitment to revitalizing American energy production, promising to reduce energy costs by 50% and arguing that lower energy bills are crucial for addressing economic challenges.
