FACT SHEET: President Biden Protects Atlantic and Pacific Coasts from Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling

President Biden has now conserved over 670 million acres of America’s lands and waters, more than any other president in history

Today President Biden will take action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing. In protecting more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean from offshore drilling, President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies – including fishing, recreation, and tourism – from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling.

Nearly forty percent of Americans live in coastal counties that rely on a healthy ocean to thrive. With today’s action, President Biden is ensuring that these regions can remain healthy and safe from the risk of oil spills resulting from development that would do little, if anything, to meet the nation’s energy needs.

Nearly 400 municipalities and over 2,300 elected local, state, Tribal, and federal officials across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts have formally opposed the expansion of offshore drilling in these areas in view of its severe environmental, health, and economic threats. Nearly every Governor along the East and West Coasts – Republicans and Democrats alike – has expressed concerns about expanded oil and gas drilling off their coastlines. In Alaska, the new Northern Bering Sea protections are consistent with a long-standing request from more than 70 coastal Tribes based on the need to help sustain a vital and threatened ocean area, and the natural resources it contains that Indigenous communities have stewarded and relied on for subsistence since time immemorial.

Following this action, President Biden will have conserved more lands and waters than any other U.S. president in history.

Protecting the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Northern Bering Sea from Offshore Drilling

Using his authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President Biden is issuing two Presidential Memoranda to protect all U.S. Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing. The withdrawals have no expiration date, and prohibit all future oil and natural gas leasing in the areas withdrawn. President Biden first used this authority in January of 2021 when he restored protections for part of the Northern Bering Sea, and again in March 2023 to withdraw 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea from future oil and gas leasing, which completed protections for the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean.

Today’s action will safeguard three distinct ocean and coastal regions:

• The entire eastern U.S. Atlantic coast and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. President Biden is protecting approximately 334 million acres of the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from Canada to the southern tip of Florida, and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. There are currently no active oil and natural gas leases in Federal waters off the eastern Atlantic coast. The southern section of this withdrawal matches a previous Congressional withdrawal enacted by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, and a subsequent time-limited 12(a) withdrawal issued by the previous administration that would have expired in 2032 without today’s protections. Today’s withdrawal builds on those prior withdrawals and helps safeguard the multi-billion-dollar fishing and tourism economies in these states.
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