Obama Announces ‘Indefinite’ Offshore Drilling Ban — Admin Says Not Even Trump Can Undo It
President Barack Obama on Tuesday took unilateral action to make most U.S. Arctic waters “indefinitely off limits” to future oil and gas leasing — just weeks before Donald Trump’s administration takes over.
Obama invoked a provision in a nearly 70-year-old law pertaining to offshore leases, according to CNBC.
“Today, in partnership with our neighbors and allies in Canada, the United States is taking historic steps to build a strong Arctic economy, preserve a healthy Arctic ecosystem and protect our fragile Arctic waters, including designating the bulk of our Arctic water and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing,” the White House said in a statement.
… Senior administration officials suggested that even future presidents, including President-elect Trump, will not have the authority to reverse Obama’s indefinite ban on oil and gas leases in the Arctic, CBS News’ Mark Knoller reported.
Because Obama exercised his authority under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act rather than issuing an executive order, Trump will likely have a difficult time overturning the action.
On the campaign trial, Trump promised as president to open additional federal land for domestic oil and gas production.
