Biden withdraws more than 600M acres of federal waters from future oil and gas drilling, including in the Bering Sea

President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is withdrawing vast swaths of the coastal U.S. from future oil and gas drilling, including in and near Alaska’s Bering Sea, citing environmental and economic risks. President-elect Donald Trump has already indicated he might seek to stop the action, though he may not be able to do so.

News of the action generated strong responses, including a profanity-laced statement from Alaska’s newly sworn-in U.S. representative.

Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III called the outgoing president a “son of a bitch” on social media Sunday, a day before the announcement, as news stories of the planned action circulated. A spokesperson for Begich defended the choice of words as a sign of his passion for Alaska.

Begich also incorrectly suggested the withdrawals would imperil natural gas in Cook Inlet, putting at risk residents in Southcentral Alaska who rely on the fuel for heat and power. The region faces a looming shortage of natural gas from the aging Cook Inlet basin, forcing companies to look to expensive imports of gas, and regulators to raise concerns about potential brownouts.

The presidential action does not affect Cook Inlet, according to details released Monday. Oil companies have shown little interest in acquiring leases in the federal offshore waters of Cook Inlet. In 2023, the Biden administration canceled plans for a Cook Inlet lease sale in the federal government’s five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program.

In Alaska, Biden’s action withdraws 44 million acres from future oil and gas leasing, in and near the Bering Sea waters off Western Alaska, hundreds of miles away from Cook Inlet, according to the presidential memorandum for the withdrawal and an associated map.

The protections apply to the remaining portions of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, established in 2016 by an executive order from former President Barack Obama. The executive order was revoked by Trump in his first term, and reinstated by the Biden administration. The area is home to “one of the largest marine mammal migrations in the world” involving whales, walruses traveling through the Bering Strait to feed and breed in Arctic waters, according to the memorandum.

More broadly, Biden also announced similar restrictions for the entire U.S. East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, according to a presidential memorandum for the action.

All the withdrawals from offshore drilling, including the one in Alaska, impact more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean. The actions are taken under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Begich’s post on the social media platform X included a map of all regions of the U.S. outer-continental shelf. The map shows a much larger area, 3.2 billion acres, than the presidential actions affect.

Begich’s post also said, “Biden To Ban Offshore Drilling In Atlantic, Pacific,” and linked to an article from a website that said Biden would attempt “to sabotage Trump’s plans to ‘Drill Baby Drill.’ "

“Joe Biden is a son of a bitch,” Begich’s post said. “Hundreds of thousands of Alaskans rely on natural gas from the Cook Inlet to heat and electrify their homes, churches, schools, and workplaces. Actions like this should serve as a permanent reminder that the Democrat machine is more than happy to sacrifice us all in the name of their sanctimonious, socialist-driven, climate science™ religion.”

Begich, asked on Monday why he suggested that the decision involves Cook Inlet, did not directly answer the question. Begich instead provided a statement through spokesperson Silver Prout.

“Executive actions impacting American resources taken under the cover of ‘climate resilience’ should be revoked, and it is my belief that actions that lock up American resource development should not be subject to executive fiat,” Begich said.

“While I am a strong believer in science-based decision making, using the excuse of climate change to close off American energy production only ships more production to jurisdictions with low environmental standards, increases the costs of living on working families, and unnecessarily exerts drag on our economy,” the statement said.

“Low interest in federal leases in Alaska is less attributable to their prospect potential and much more attributable to the adversarial positioning of federal bureaucracies which are generally more interested in discovering creative ways to say ‘No’ than in partnering on finding ways to say, ‘Yes,’ " the statement said.

Asked about his use of profanity to describe the president, Prout replied in a text, “it is clear to see here that Congressman Begich is extremely passionate about fighting for Alaska’s future, and he will continue to exemplify that fighting spirit in Washington.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska also criticized the decision on social media Monday, saying on X that Biden “has cemented his legacy as the worst president in American history on energy.”

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said on social media that she understands the desire of Alaska tribes in the Bering Sea region to prevent oil and gas activity there, though it’s unlikely.

But the actions represent continued limits on offshore areas in Alaska, “while nothing is done to promote development” such as in Cook Inlet, where she said the Biden administration has worked against natural gas production.

“I also object to the manner in which this announcement was made — post-election, at the 11th hour, and unilaterally through executive action,” Murkowski said.

Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy called the executive decisions “short-sighted and harmful.”

“I look forward to the next administration reversing this misguided policy and standing up for Alaska’s right to develop its resources for the benefit of our people and our nation,” Dunleavy said in a social media post.

Alaska Native groups from Western Alaska and conservation groups expressed support for the actions.

The Bering Sea Elders Group and two regional tribal consortiums from Western Alaska, Kawerak and the Association of Village Council Presidents, said in a statement that they deeply appreciate the presidential actions.

Representatives with the groups said they hope the action ends any question about future oil and gas operations in the waters near their communities.

“Our traditional waters of the Bering Sea are interconnected, and protecting these waters helps ensure our food sovereignty, our cultural, economic, physical and traditional existence, and our very survival,” said Jaylene Wheeler, executive director of the Bering Sea Elders Group.

Joseph Gordon, with Oceana, called the actions an “epic ocean victory” and said in a statement that Republican and Democratic presidents have taken similar actions to protect U.S. offshore waters from drilling.

“Our coastlines are home to millions of Americans and support billions of dollars of economic activity that depend on a clean coast, abundant wildlife, and thriving fisheries,” the statement said.

“This critical action is a major win for coastal communities, marine wildlife, and our collective future,” said Ben Jealous, Sierra Club executive director, in a statement. “In using the power of the presidency, the same authority used by his three immediate predecessors, President Biden is acting to safeguard the public health of coastal communities from the dangers of offshore drilling along with the marine wildlife that live in these waters.”

Trump on Monday told a conservative radio host that he would overturn the action on Day 1 of his presidency. But repealing the decision will require an act of Congress.