President Joe Biden's ban will safeguard over 625 million acres of waters along United States coastlines. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to expand fossil fuel production significantly.

United States President Joe Biden is preparing to implement a ban on additional offshore oil and gas drilling on Monday, covering most of the country’s coastlines in the final days of his presidency.

Biden plans to exercise his authority under the 70-year-old Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to enforce the ban.

The announcement comes just weeks before Donald Trump is set to take office. During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to significantly expand fossil fuel production.

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

The ban will encompass all federal waters along the east and west coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska. According to a White House statement, the protected area will span more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares) of waters.

Biden emphasized that the decision aligns with his climate change agenda and his broader goal to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. "As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren," he added.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to "unleash" domestic fossil fuel production as a strategy to lower gas prices, despite record-high extraction rates in the U.S. However, reversing Biden’s decision may prove legally challenging. A 2019 court ruling established that under the Lands Act, presidents do not have the authority to overturn previous bans.

Ironically, Trump previously utilized the same law to prohibit offshore drilling rights sales in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida’s coast through 2032. Biden’s forthcoming decision will protect the same area but without an expiration date.