More on That Biden Offshore Leasing Ban

The White House is apparently being fairly tight-lipped about the intention of President Joe Biden - or rather, Biden’s script-writing handlers - to set more swaths of federal offshore waters off limits to oil and gas leasing and drilling in the coming days. Bloomberg broke the story yesterday, and the New York Times reported last night that the move is expected to take place as soon as Monday.

Those media outlets and others are saying the move is likely to be based in powers granted to the president under the Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act (OCSLA) of 1953. That law was used by Barack Obama to set aside areas in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans late in his second term. When Trump attempted to reverse Obama’s action, Alaska federal district court judge Sharon Gleason - an Obama appointee - upheld the bans in 2019. The case was never heard by an appellate court.

Sources I’ve spoken with who have expertise in this realm say they think the Biden people might choose to base this latest ban in a different law, the Federal Antiquities Act of 1906. This law was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt and was intended to protect historic relics like Indian cave art sites that were then being discovered in certain parts of the American West.