Biden’s handlers are having a busy few weeks pushing their agendas on the country before the new administration takes over.
Next week, it is expected that Biden will issue an executive order permanently banning new offshore oil and gas development in certain U.S. coastal waters. The order could come as early as January 6th.
Biden is set within days to issue the executive order barring the sale of new drilling rights in portions of the country’s outer continental shelf, according to people familiar with the effort who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t public.The move is certain to complicate President-elect Donald Trump’s ambitions to drive more domestic energy production. Unlike other executive actions that can be easily undone, Biden’s planned declaration is rooted in a 72-year-old law that gives the White House wide discretion to permanently protect U.S. waters from oil and gas leasing without explicitly empowering presidents to revoke the designations.The move responds to pressure from congressional Democrats and environmental groups who have lobbied Biden to “maximize permanent protections” against offshore drilling, arguing the action is essential to safeguard vulnerable coastal communities, protect marine ecosystems from oil spills and fight climate change.White House and Interior Department officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to sources knowledgeable about this move, Biden intends to invoke an obscure provision of a 1953 law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, that supposedly gives him wide latitude to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing.
Interestingly, Trump also used the same law to impose a similar moratorium on oil and gas exploration in coastal waters between North Carolina to Florida.
While section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives a president wide leeway to bar drilling, it does not include language that would allow Mr. Trump or any future president to revoke a ban.That was tested after President Barack Obama banned offshore drilling in parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean. During his first term in office Mr. Trump tried to revoke the ban. In 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Alaska ruled that Mr. Obama’s ban could not be undone without an act of Congress.The order could box in Mr. Trump politically as well. One area Mr. Biden intends to permanently protect is a stretch of coastal waters from North Carolina to Florida, according to the two people knowledgeable about the plan. Mr. Trump himself had imposed a 10-year moratorium on oil and gas exploration in that region by using the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. He took that step while he was courting voters in those states during his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2020.
So, would such oil and gas exploration be part of the Trump agenda in the next 4 years? As of early December, the Trump transition team certainly had it as an important part of its energy agenda.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is putting together a wide-ranging energy package to roll out within days of his taking office that would approve export permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and increase drilling off the US coast and on federal lands, according to a recent Reuters report.The energy checklist largely reflects promises Trump’s promises on the campaign trail to boost domestic oil and gas production, but it also includes plans to repeal some of his Democratic predecessor’s key climate legislation and regulations. According to the report, this includes tax credits for electric vehicles and new clean power plant standards that aim to phase out coal and natural gas-fired power generation.
During his first term, Trump attempted to undo similar protections implemented by Obama but was blocked by a 2019 U.S. district court ruling.
So, if Trump plans to undo this executive order, he may have to take a different tack.
Arguing that Biden lacks the capacity to make lucid and informed decisions due to obvious age-related mental impairment could be effective. The American people did not vote for whoever has been making decisions for Biden, especially recent ones.
Trump could take his case to Congress, and hope they can reverse the law impacting this issue. He could also take the case to court, perhaps as high as the Supreme Court.
Finally, perhaps it is time for Congress to rein in the presidential use of executive orders in the period between elections and inauguration whenever a new administration is poised to take charge.
I would say this is another stain on the Biden legacy, but the legacy is already a dumpster fire.
Biden’s handlers know they will not be able to enact their anti-American, economy-crushing activist agendas for some time to come, so its a mad rush to get them on the books now.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY