A US federal judge has declared “illegal” President Donald Trump’s order to lift bans on drilling for oil and gas in offshore Arctic and Atlantic areas.
Trump’s move to open more areas to drilling “is unlawful, as it exceeds the president’s authority,” US District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled late Friday.
Therefore, bans on drilling in those areas “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress,” the ruling said.
“The judge’s ruling today shows that the president cannot just trample on the constitution to do the bidding of his cronies in the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our oceans, wildlife, and climate,” said Erik Grafe, the lead attorney from the environmental law organization Earthjustice.
The indefinite prohibition was enacted by former President Barack Obama in December 2016 under a 1953 law. As a result of the enactment, new drilling in US waters in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska, including most of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and in 31 underwater canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, was made illegal.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act authorizes the president to withdraw offshore areas from commercial use. Former presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton also invoked the legislation.
