Trump Orders US Waters Open to Oil Drilling, Reversing Biden

(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump revoked offshore oil and gas leasing bans that effectively blocked drilling in most US coastal waters as he made sweeping moves his first hours in office to unleash American energy development.

Trump’s move came as part of a broad assault on executive orders issued by former President Joe Biden, including revoking his recent decision to bar drilling rigs in some 625 million acres of coastal waters. 

The shift wouldn’t immediately trigger new offshore lease sales — and environmentalists are vowing to fight it in federal court. Oil companies have also displayed little interest in tapping most of the areas Trump moved to put back in play for leasing. 

Even so, congressional Republicans are eyeing new offshore oil auctions as a way to raise federal revenue that can help offset the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts. 

It could take years — if ever — for Trump’s move to result in new oil and gas development, and it’s not clear it will survive legal challenges. Nevertheless, the effort underscores the new president’s commitment to a frequent campaign pledge: to unlock more of America’s vast stories of energy. 

Trump’s action also responds to the wishes of one of his top constituencies: the oil and gas industry that’s long sought more drilling opportunities on federal lands and waters. 

Industry leaders argue oil and gas will be needed for decades, especially given the predicted surge in electricity demand from artificial intelligence. When American resources are developed, energy executives say they come with a smaller carbon footprint than fossil fuels from elsewhere around the world. 

Trump is “moving swiftly to chart a new path where US oil and natural gas are embraced, not restricted,”  said Mike Sommers, head of the American Petroleum Institute.

The International Energy Agency, has said the world needs to stop opening new oil and gas fields to effectively zero out energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. And many conservationists argue offshore drilling poses untenable risks to coastal communities and marine life. 

Legal, Political Hurdles

Legal and political opposition confounded similar plans during Trump’s first term in office. 

For instance, Trump tried to revoke former President Barack Obama’s offshore oil leasing withdrawals during his first term. But Obama’s and Biden’s drilling bans are rooted in a 72-year-old federal law that explicitly empowers presidents to withdraw US waters from oil and gas leasing without explicitly authorizing revocations, effectively making the tool a one-way ratchet for marine conservation. In 2019, an Alaska-based federal district court adopted that view in rejecting Trump’s earlier reversal. 

Environmental advocates argue Trump’s latest efforts will meet a similar fate.

“President Trump’s attempt to undo these important offshore protections is in glaring violation of the law,” said Steve Mashuda, a managing attorney with Earthjustice. “The areas President Biden protected include invaluable ecosystems and waters vital to support coastal resilience, tourism, sustainable fishing and even national defense” but expanding drilling in them “does almost nothing to meet the nation’s long-term energy needs,” he said.

Oil industry leaders are lobbying Trump to develop a new plan for selling offshore drilling rights, effectively replacing a Biden-era program that called for just three sales over the next five years, a record low. 

The Interior Department took similar steps during Trump’s first term to develop an ambitious five-year plan for selling offshore oil leases, initially opening the door for auctions in almost all US coastal waters. But the Trump administration dialed back its plans after pushback from politicians in coastal states, including Florida Republicans. Ultimately, the administration abandoned the effort, leaving a much smaller Obama-era leasing plan in place and disappointing oil industry advocates who’d hoped for new exploration opportunities. 

(Updates with details from order and industry reaction beginning in third paragraph.)

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.