Court rules that Biden's ban on offshore drilling is illegal

Former U.S. president

Joe Biden

A federal judge in Louisiana found that the president had exceeded his authority when he withdrawn large areas of U.S. coasts from offshore oil and natural gas development.

U.S. District judge James Cain, in Lake Charles in Louisiana, sided against Republican states and groups from the oil and gas industries who sued to stop Biden's plan to protect federal waters along the East and West Coasts, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the northern Bering Sea of Alaska.

Biden on his last day in office

Use your authority

Under the 70-year old Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the areas were withdrawn. Weeks later, President

Donald Trump signed an Executive Order repealing this effort.

Cain said that Biden's withdrawal from office was illegal, because it was permanent. He also said that withdrawals made by the former president Barack Obama were similar.

To the extent that these were intended to override the ability of future executives to revoke their withdrawals or modify them, they represented a departure from long-standing executive branch practice and exceeded the authority granted by (section 12(a). of OCSLA. (Reporting and editing by Nichola Reese; Nichola Groom)

(source: Reuters)