Joe Biden’s presidency may be limping to the finish line, but he’s not leaving without tossing a wrench into America’s energy independence.
On Monday, Biden announced a sweeping ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling across a staggering 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters. It’s a move that environmental activists are hailing as a victory, but for ordinary Americans already dealing with high energy costs, it’s just another example of this administration prioritizing ideology over practicality.
Using a little-known provision of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (because why not pull out obscure laws when your approval ratings are underwater?), Biden effectively locked down much of America’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska’s Bering Sea. His reasoning? Protecting the environment for “our children and grandchildren.” Cue the applause from environmental groups that seem more focused on saving fish than on ensuring Americans can afford to heat their homes.
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. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill. https://t.co/NvWx7oA2vU
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) January 6, 2025
Biden claims drilling in these areas isn’t necessary to meet the nation’s energy needs, a bold statement from the guy who’s overseen skyrocketing gas prices and begged OPEC to pump more oil. But hey, maybe he thinks “transitioning to a clean energy economy” is happening faster than anyone else can see. Newsflash: wind turbines and solar panels aren’t filling the gap yet, and banning offshore drilling isn’t going to help.
What’s really going on here? Biden’s move is less about saving the planet and more about cementing a legacy he knows is on shaky ground. With President-elect Donald Trump ready to take office and reinstate policies that prioritize energy independence, Biden’s desperate to tie Trump’s hands. By invoking the same 1953 law that Obama used to block drilling, Biden is betting that Trump will need Congress to undo this. And given how well Congress functions these days, Biden might just get his wish.
Of course, Biden dusted off the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to justify the ban, as if oil spills are a daily occurrence. But let’s be clear: the areas Biden locked up don’t have the same risks or the same drilling interest as the central Gulf of Mexico, which remains untouched by this order. In other words, this isn’t about addressing a real danger—it’s about optics and pandering to a loud minority.
Los Angeles beaches regularly have oil seeping through the sand on shore.
It gets on your feet and children get it on them while playing in the sand.
There’s so much oil off the coast not getting pumped that Mother Nature is pushing it out along the beach shoreline as an… https://t.co/MUeRnoRRmW
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) January 6, 2025
Trump, for his part, has made it clear that energy dominance is back on the table. His pick for Secretary of Energy, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright, isn’t mincing words about the need for more fossil fuel production. Wright has called out the so-called “energy transition” as a myth, a stance that’s music to the ears of anyone tired of Biden’s green pipe dreams that come at the expense of working families.
While environmentalists are busy popping champagne, everyday Americans are left wondering how much higher their energy bills will climb. Biden may call it a win for the planet, but it feels like a loss for everyone else. As Trump prepares to take office, let’s hope he’s ready to tackle the mess Biden is leaving behind—starting with reversing this latest attempt to make energy independence a relic of the past.
