President-elect Trump blasted President Biden’s decision to block oil drilling across large swaths of the U.S.’s coastlines, saying he will “unban it.”
“It’s ridiculous; I’ll unban it immediately,” Trump said during an interview Monday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
However, it’s not totally clear whether he’ll be able to do so. During his previous term, Trump tried to reinstate drilling in areas blocked off by former President Obama, but he was blocked from doing so in court.
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In 2019, a judge ruled that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives presidents the right to block drilling in certain areas but not to reinstate it.
Nevertheless, in the interview with Hewitt, Trump asserted he would be able to reverse Biden’s action.
“I have the right to unban it immediately,” he said.
“When I see somebody saying he’s going to ban 625 million acres, he doesn’t know what that is. He doesn’t even know what 625 million acres would look like, and we can’t let that happen to our country,” Trump added.
Biden’s move to ban new drilling in more than 625 million acres represents the largest-ever area where a president has blocked drilling.
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However, Biden’s move applies to areas that have low, if any, levels of offshore drilling. It did not apply to the central and western Gulf of Mexico where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs.
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