Offshore drilling ban: Is NJ included, and will it stick?

With his days numbered as president of the United States, Joe Biden has announced that offshore drilling for gas and oil will be blocked across hundreds of acres of ocean, including off New Jersey's coast.

Incoming President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to reverse Biden's move, but implementing a ban is much simpler than scrapping one.

Biden is using his authority to protect 625 million ocean acres from future gas and oil development. The decision protects the entire East Coast, as well as parts of the West Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska.

"My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs," the Democratic president said in a statement. "It is not worth the risks."

Biden pointed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which claimed lives and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, as a "solemn reminder" of the costs and risks associated with offshore drilling.

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“President Biden’s action ensures that our coasts are permanently off-limits to ‘drill baby, drill’ exploitation," said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. 6th District. "This is a commonsense win for everyone who relies on clean, thriving oceans."

On a radio program on Monday, Trump called Biden's move ridiculous and said that he would "unban" offshore drilling in the areas affected by the decision.

Biden's decision takes advantage of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which permits presidents to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing. The law does not give presidents the authority to place waters back into development, meaning Trump may have to get Congress involved to reverse Biden's move.

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