An oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. (Getty Images)
An energy industry researcher says, despite both praise and criticism of President Joe Biden’s executive order banning offshore drilling in huge swaths off much of the nation’s coastline, the measure will likely have no near-term impact on oil and gas exploration.
President-elect Donald Trump issued a similar ban five years ago, and Biden’s action expands on it.
The president signed two memoranda Monday to permanently ban offshore drilling over more than 625 million acres of ocean to advance his commitment to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, a White House statement said.
The prohibition applies to future oil and gas drilling off the entire East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the remaining portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea where drilling was still permitted. The areas haven’t attracted much drilling interest to begin with and were already subject to similar though less sweeping restrictions.
LSU professor David Dismukes, an energy sector economist, said he expects nothing of real significance to come out of Biden’s decision.
Most of the crude oil extracted in the U.S. comes from the Permian Basin, a vast area spanning western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Only about 15% comes from offshore drilling in federal waters, and that is overwhelmingly concentrated in the western and central Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“It’d take decades to get the eastern [Gulf of Mexico] and Atlantic and parts of Alaska into position for drilling, particularly anything remotely like what we see in the central and western [Gulf of Mexico],” Dismukes said.
Restricting areas from future development is not good for long-term resource availability, Dismukes said, adding that he doesn’t see Biden’s new restrictions being a big negative.
Still, the prohibition underscores the Biden administration’s animus toward oil and gas, he said.
LSU’s Center for Energy Studies, which Dismukes once led, receives a significant portion of its financial support in the form of donations from fossil fuel companies.
Republicans immediately pounced on Biden’s announcement, with Trump vowing to reverse the ban. A reversal could prove challenging, however, and would likely involve a drawn-out court battle.
In a statement Monday, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt strongly criticized Biden’s move. “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,” Leavitt said.
The U.S. has produced more oil and natural gas under Biden’s four years than under Trump’s, according to data from the EIA.
Trump, himself, issued a similar executive order in 2020 that banned drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico through 2032.
Biden’s prohibition has no expiration date but does not apply to federal waters off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. Oil and gas companies have shown little interest in drilling outside of those areas. Twenty-two lease sales have been held over the years for areas in the eastern Gulf, but they never resulted in commercial production, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“Even if there’s no immediate interest in some areas, it’s crucial for the federal government to maintain the flexibility to adapt its energy policy, especially in response to unexpected global changes like the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a statement Monday. “Blanket bans only serve to transfer energy production and economic opportunities abroad, inadvertently bolstering countries like Russia at the expense of U.S. interests.”
The industry’s current offshore drilling interest has been concentrated on a small sliver of water near the eastern Gulf but still within the central Gulf area, closer to Louisiana than to Florida. Biden’s ban could, at least in theory, shore up Louisiana’s offshore drilling sector, but industry groups with ties to the state have remained in lockstep opposition to the move.
“The recent offshore drilling ban, though not directly affecting the western Gulf of Mexico, is a blatant attack on the oil and natural gas industry — an industry vital to our nation’s energy security and economic strength,” Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association’s Tommy Faucheux said in a statement. “This decision undermines our ability to provide stable, reliable, and affordable energy to meet the needs of American families and businesses.”
Congress banned drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico in 2006 with the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which remained in effect through June 30, 2022, and was extended through 2032 via a Trump executive order.
Other prior acts of Congress and presidential orders have restricted drilling in the northern Bering Sea, parts of the West Coast and most of the East Coast.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
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