Trump has vowed to establish what he calls American "energy dominance" around the world as he seeks to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from Biden’s radical climate change agenda.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, said he is using authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing.
Biden's orders would not affect large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs, but it would impact oil and gas drilling along California, Florida and other state coastlines.
Trump on Monday declared that, after he's inaugurated on Jan. 20, Biden's drilling ban will “be changed on day one."
“I will unban it immediately” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “I have the right to unban it."
He said the U.S. has “oil and gas at a level that nobody else has and we're gonna take advantage of it. It's really our greatest economic asset."
