THE Joe Biden announced today a ban on new “offshore” drilling in a vast area of ​​sea, attempting to prevent the fulfillment of a campaign promise of Donald Trumpwho has said he will increase domestic gas and oil production by offshore drilling.

The Democratic president, who will hand over power on January 20 to his Republican rival, decided, according to a statement, to ban all new drilling in a sea zone that covers a total of more than 2.5 million square kilometers.

The ban, which has no expiration date, will be enforced along the US coasts in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska in the Bering Strait.

“The time has come to protect these shores for our children and our grandchildren,” Joe Biden emphasized in the announcement.

“It is clear to me that the relatively small fossil fuel potential of protected areas does not justify the risks to the environment, to public health and to the economy that new concessions and new drilling would create,” he added.

“We don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy; or between protecting our oceans, our coasts and the food they produce, and keeping energy prices low. These are false alternatives,” he complained.

The message is clearly aimed at the Republican president-elect, who on the campaign trail promised to allow open-ended drilling to drive down the price of gasoline at a time when U.S. hydrocarbon production is already at record levels.

According to the American press, it may be difficult for the 78-year-old billionaire to reverse this decision of his democratic predecessor.

Joe Biden is relying on a 1953 law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the federal government powers over the exploitation of resources on the continental shelf, the seabed off the coast.

This text does not expressly provide for the president’s right to review a decision to ban new drilling without going through Congress.

The future spokeswoman for the Trump administration, Caroline Leavitt, did not wait for the announcement to criticize, through a message addressed to American newspapers, a “scandalous decision” and a “political revenge”.

An oil and gas industry group argued the decision would harm American energy security and should be overturned by Congress.

“We call on policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to overturn this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal licensing,” said American Petroleum Institute President Mike Somers.

Environmental NGOs instead welcomed the decision ahead of the presidency of Donald Trump, who disputes the reality of human-caused climate change.

“It’s a victory for the oceans” and for Americans who depend on clean coasts and fisheries, Joseph Gordon of the non-governmental organization Oceana had already reacted before the official announcement of the decision.

“Our precious coastal communities are now protected for future generations,” he added.