Going Out with a Ban(g)
In one of its final acts before Inauguration Day, the Biden administration has issued a ban on offshore drilling across large swaths of U.S. coasts.
The move bans new oil drilling across roughly 625 million acres of ocean (most of which isn’t viable for drilling) but doesn’t affect current oil and gas development in banned areas.
Because of a 2019 court ruling, a reversal by President-elect Trump—who’s been vocal about reversing Biden’s environmental policies—would likely require an act of Congress (literally).
As another parting act, President Biden signed a proclamation yesterday to establish two Native American tribal lands in California as national monuments, prohibiting drilling and mining in the protected areas and moving the administration toward its conservation goal of protecting 30% of U.S. land and seas by 2030.
Verse to consider when balancing the health of the earth with the needs of humanity… “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.… took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.”
Genesis 2:7, 15 (CSB) (read full passage)