US court upholds offshore drilling ban
The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled April 13 that a challenge to the previous administration's effort to open up more federal waters to offshore drillers was invalid because the current government has already decided the issue through an executive order that enacted limits on drilling in federal territory.
Among other things, president Joe Biden in executive order 13990 reinstated protections enacted by former president Barack Obama that barred exploration and production activity in federal waters. In one of his last acts of office, Obama in 2016 designated the vast majority of US waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas as "indefinitely off limits to offshore oil and gas leasing." The Canadian government mirrored much of that legislation.
Former president Trump in one of his first acts of office had overturned Obama's order.
Defendants including the League of Conservation Voters, the American Petroleum Institute and the US federal government argued Biden’s executive order ruled that earlier challenges to Trump’s order in an Alaskan court were now invalid so there was nothing left for the court to consider.
“We ordered the parties to submit supplemental briefs regarding the impact of president Biden’s executive order on these appeals," the court's ruling read. "The parties argue president Biden’s revocation of president Trump’s executive order rendered these appeals moot. We agree."
Drillers had expressed interest in offshore Alaska in particular. But in 2015, Royal Dutch Shell said that in would end its efforts in the Chukchi Sea, citing high costs and a burdensome regulatory process.
The case before court of appeals is No. 19-35460, League of Conservation Voters et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, et al.