After a presidential campaign where both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back on claims that they were trying to shut down much of the fossil fuel industry, Biden waited until the final days of his administration to ban oil and gas drilling over 670 million acres of America’s coastline. President-elect Donald Trump responded that“It’s ridiculous. I’ll un-ban it immediately. I have the right to un-ban it immediately.” It will likely be more difficult than a simple “un-ban” order. Environmental groups will likely push a “sue, baby, sue” campaign to counter Trump’s “drill, baby, drill.”
In his statement, Biden justified the move to counter the “climate crisis.” A White House announcement stated that “President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential.”
The question is whether the order can handcuff Trump in pursuing one of the main parts of his campaign platform to unleash America’s fossil fuel resources.
This is all familiar ground.
Biden acted under Section 12(a) of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which states that the president “may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the Outer Continental Shelf.”
As noted in a Congressional Research Service report there is an ongoing debate over whether presidents can reverse the withdrawals of prior presidents. Trump faced that question in 2017 when he sought to overturn a ban by President Barack Obama in order to open up Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas and some parts of the Atlantic to oil and gas exploration. Two years later, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska struck down Trump’s order. While acknowledging that the law is ambiguous, it did not find express authority for such reversals.
Litigation ran out the clock and Biden later overturned Trump’s executive order.
So, there are grounds to assert this authority of reversal, but it will take years in court. The alternative and preferred route would be Congress. This is an issue that should ultimately rest with Congress. This ambiguous law is unfortunately common in poorly crafted provisions giving presidents sweeping authority.
Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has already pledged to “push back using every tool at our disposal.”
why do republicans need to follow laws….when Democrats don’t!
Time to start jailing the CRIMINAL Judges, DAs, AGs, for their obvious CRIMINAL conduct!
Could you please outline what laws Democrats do not follow?
Voting laws for starters
See PA 2024
To Anonymous: Supreme Court decisions. That is, case law. Like the illegal “cancelling” of college student loan debt.
Thank goodness trump never had policies that were successfully challenged at the SC. Oh wait…never mind, trump never lies, trump never makes a mistake, trump never changes his mind.
Dear Mr. Turley, I need to take exception with Anonymous @ 10:06 am. I am a Trump supporter. I am not angry nor am I filled with “piss and vinegar” as they believe. Instead, I am filled with thankfulness that Mr. Trump is the new President. Common sense has returned to the White House. As a believer in Christ, I feel safe once again. Before, it seemed I was looking over my shoulder whenever I would enter the Church building. The Left will squawk but they cannot hide from the fact that Mr. Trump won by a landslide that few saw coming. Too bad for them!!!
Yeah, like Jack Smith knows what the truth is! You can’t make it up. Kash Pa-Hell is coming and it’s coming for them.
Trump won 77,284,118 votes, or 49.8 percent of the votes cast for president.
How do you get “landslide” when trump won less than 50% of the votes cast?
By their fruits you shall know them.
From my perspective, trump is as far from Christian principals as heaven is from hell.
Trump did not “win by a landslide “— he received less than half of the votes cast and his margin was 1.48%. Most concerning of all are the lies he told to get gullible people to vote for him— that he would “immediately “ bring down the cost of groceries “precipitously”. 78% of voters said the high cost of groceries was the #1 issue for them. Trump could not win without lying and playing the race card. How do you think Christ would judge that?
How do you think Christ would feel about someone like Trump who is a chronic, habitual liar, who brags about grabbing women by the genitalia, who defrauded people with his fake “Trump University“, who stole money from his charitable foundation, who stole classified documents, and who took advantage of concerns about the high cost of groceries to get gullible people to vote for him by lying about the ability to bring about a sharp drop in the price of food? How do you think Christ would feel about the divisiveness Trump and MAGA media keep fomenting over the lies that got him elected and your hostility towards people who don’t support Trump?
How do you think Christ would react to rounding up millions of migrants, including children of migrants born in America who are American citizens and putting them in concentration camps— calling them “animals, murderers, rapists and criminals “?
You are kidding yourself about not being full of piss and vinegar or haven’t really thought much about what it means to be a Christian.
How do you feel about wolves in sheeps’ clothing, pretending to play meek and agreeable to appeal to voters, but plotting Trump’s political demise?
How do you feel about the technical definition of “majority” when it comes to American politics–since you claim to be a lawyer, you should know this? https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/majority (“A relative majority–also known as a plurality–means a candidate needs the most votes to win, which is does not always require over 50%.”)
How do you think Christ feels about people like you?
Trump did NOT receive half of the votes cast in 2024–that is a fact. There was NO landslide–another MAGA lie to soothe the fragile ego of the Trumpster. “Plotting Trump’s political demise”? How? Did anyone force him to spread the Big Lie that got one of his gullible followers killed, Capitol Police officers assaulted, beaten and some of them died due to suicide? Some officers lost fingers and one lost an eye–and Trump will get away with all of that because billionaires funded MAGA media to spread lies to people like you in order to get him elected. He lied about delivering an immediate sharp drop in the cost of groceries–and enough people believed that lie so that he got what he wanted. They also lie about being “conservative”–conservatives RESPECT law enforcement, the rule of law, and our Capitol–the symbol of our democracy. That’s why you MAGAs are NOT conservatives—you are part of a cult. Then, there’s stealing classified documents, refusing polite requests to return them, letting our most-sensitive secrets lay around in unsecured areas where anyone could look at them, copy them or even take them–who plotted this? Did anyone force him to falsify business records to cover up payoffs to a nude model and porn actress? The issue is not whether he received more votes–it’s the lie that he has some kind of “mandate” due to a “landslide”–not true–another MAGA media lie that even Turley has uttered.
listen, you hateful clown. Trump won 49.9% and more than 2 million more than harris. YOU are the one who kept bragging that Trump “did not win a majority” until you were previously corrected about what majority means, so now you change your argument to, “well, he didn’t receive half the votes.” Your hatred is truly sicko.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/RESULTS/zjpqnemxwvx/
“Donald Trump and two of his allies are making a last-minute push to block special counsel Jack Smith from issuing his final report on his two dismissed criminal cases against the president-elect.”
Why? I thought trump was innocent and wanted the truth out. What is trump afraid of?
Trump is not afraid of Jack Black, because he is a biased liberal ideologue and has deep connections to the DNC! The report will be filled with lies and misinformation!
The fraudulent report is a complete waste of taxpayer money just like everything else liberals do to our country!
Every lawsuit that has been brought against Trump are all politically motivated!
President Trump can’t be sworn into office fast enough!
I had a conversation recently with someone and a person commented how that person seemed so bitter and angry. The quote the got me was “They are filled with piss and vinegar”.
Yep, that sums up almost every trump supporter that dares to open their mouth, which is most of them.
Filled with piss and vinegar.
YES you are filled with piss and vinegar DUM BIDEN/KAMALA voter!
I was thinking more of bovine fecal matter…
Thank you both for proving my point.
Take off your hat and feel your head, that’s the only point you have.
No. Not really. Trump won. People feel better and more optimistic about the future. A number of CEOs have said they feel better about Trump getting them out from under all those burdensome regulations Biden put them in. If Trump’s taxes did anything like they did the first time, he would of put more money into my pocket to help offset the burden of Bidenflation. More and more companies are ditching DEI. More and more states are ditching DEI at state colleges so students dont have to pay for useless classes to graduate. Just this morning Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook is ditching fact checkers as “the fact-checkers have just been too politically-biased…” and switching to a X-like community notes model. That is great news for pro-1stA! So, you assessment of what comes out of Trump supporters is mostly wrong.
Here is a picture of the joy Trump supporters are feeling, https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/02/22/92718815-14150497-image-m-110_1733178548746.jpg
Here is a picture of the sadness leftist are feeling, again, https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/4e727d8cff9ba188b5e24fde897eb460
Think of DEI in the realm of a dairy farmer. Would you buy and keep a milk cow that only produces minimal milk or a bull that thinks it’s a cow producing none? Or would you purchase a milk cow that produces mass quantities of high butter fat milk for which you depend on for your company? America’s businesses are in the business of business, not social engineering. Demowits can’t understand this concept because they are fed from the government slop trough which is now depleted.
Traveler,
That is actually a great comparison. Well said. We have a breeding program for the top producers that includes everything from cows, hogs, beans, cabbage etc.
FFA animal husbandry 😝
Jeez I am getting old…
* The problem of DEI is it squashes the gifted and talented. Sure, you can be an engineer but the author headlights you’ve engineered will be so much less than otherwise. That’s the actual problem. The inferior product designed is the problem.
No one realizes that , only a few.
Yep, that sums up almost every trump supporter that dares to open their mouth, which is most of them.
Filled with piss and vinegar.
Bwahahaha! That’s not the insult you think it is. In it’s most common usage, it means: Feisty, strong, confident. Unable to be intimidated.
So yep, that accurately defines the entire America First movement. Well done!
I’ve written this comment in reply to many other authors’ articles, but I’ll post it here as well. Perhaps you will, using your legal knowledge, address the matter. For anyone with eyes to see, it is obvious that Joe Biden is senile. For how long he has been in this sad state is a matter of opinion. How can an Executive Order issued by a senile President be binding on the Nation? Can not all of his signatures on legislation be called into question?
To Anonymous: I was just about to raise the same issue. How can “. . . the laws be faithfully executed” by a President who is so cognitively impaired? Didn’t Schumer just intimate that Biden’s cognitive impairment may have been (purposefully) overlooked by fellow Democrats? Is there no retroactive recourse available to review whether Biden’s decisions are invalid because he was likely cognitively impaired when he made them?
Could you please point to the Constitutional provision where this is possible.
No, it is NOT “obvious” that Joe Biden is senile. He speaks and walks more slowly than he used to and sometimes mis-speaks–as many people do, but those are NOT signs of senility, no matter how many times Hannity and Levin say so. Biden has given multiple speeches lately, and has done fine. He has always had a stuttering problem, so MAGA media says this proves he is senile–it does not–more of their lies. Did you hear your hero the other day and his hour-long rambling nonsensical speech in which he mixed up names, not making anything resembling sense?
“ban oil and gas drilling” and “sue, baby, sue”
And that’s why energy prices skyrocketed under Biden: Criminalize energy production and handcuff energy producers.
When your economy is collapsing, don’t blame nature. Blame your government’s statist policies.
Sam,
The Biden admin and their leftist lackyes are doing everything they can to prevent any kind of Trump success. All the the jobs Biden supposedly created have been a lie. Biden is setting Trump up for a economic crisis. Of course our leftist friends will blame Trump.
Trump will be inheriting the strongest economy in a long, long time. Gas prices are way, way down. Let’s see how that holds up under trumps policies. Time will tell.
If you know a bit of history you might know that in 1930 when tariffs were implemented, the next few years did not go so well, for the world economy, let along the U.S.
BIDEN gave us 21% inflation and let in 15 Million unvetted ILLEGALS. GDP and job numbers are PHONY propped up by HUGE borrowing and spending. National debt soaring under Biden(more than under Trump)
“Let’s see how that holds up under *trumps policies*.” (emphasis added)
Pretty sure that the criminalizing of energy production on some 625 *million* acres is *not* a Trump policy. Nor is the wholesale handicapping of America’s oil refineries. Nor or the coming environmental lawsuits that are designed to kill energy production.
As is typical of the Left: A man torches his own building. Then evading that history, the Left blames the new owner for possessing a torched building.
Gas prices are lower than they were. But they are still higher than at any point during the 1st Trump admin. And those costs, Bidenflation, eat into everyday American purchasing power. That affects their pocketbook and bank account. Even you are paying more for nearly everything under the Biden admin.
(“President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential.”) I would counter that with a request for proof from medical personnel that this old geezer even knew where he was when he signed some piece of paper thrust in front of him and that his entire administration’s actions are quasi-legit because he was not of sound mind at any point.
What difference at this point does it make?
Yeah, that’s from the hildabeast. But it’s not inappropriate in this context. Biden (and his staffers) are doing what squatters do when they are ordered to vacate the property. What’s truly important is We are “thirteen” days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. Yeah, I went there. It’s a good thing.
“Fundamentally Transforming…” is quite appropriate but I think we need something more. Just as we must call a service like “Serve Pro” to clean up a disaster that occurred in our home (a wild party, a hurricane, a busted water pipe) we must hire people like Tom Homan and Pam Bondi, and let them remove all the trash left by the prog/left before we can start to inhabit our home once again.
Mama, we will not “fundamentally transform” without them.
Trump is setup to prove the Obama era didn’t reach the progressive’s promise land.
They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7
If Democrat judges want to engage in lawfare, the question quickly becomes, “with what army??” The Democrats routinely ignore the law, which suggests enforcement has become a flexible matter–especially to them. I’m not advocating ignoring the courts, but Democrats could easily convince me otherwise. They’re halfway there already.
Another parting little “gift” from the Delaware Dumbass. Lovely…..
The can of worms has been opened by the Dems. Lawfare is here to stay and the Republicans better learn the game, fast. Remember the Dem’s battle cry, “Do what you know is right and let the law catch up to you!” Two can play.
Wars are often historically fought over energy. The Biden Administration is responsible for causing the human, environmental and economic disaster that is Eastern Europe. Remember Putin did not invade Ukraine until Biden on day one shut down American energy production. So Americans handed Putin the energy market to fight this war and then paid Ukraine in weapons and money to defend itself. Stupid is as stupid does.
“Remember Putin did not invade Ukraine until Biden on day one shut down American energy production.”
Biden had a lot of help fvcking things up in Ukraine. You can begin with Obama directing Deep State asset VIctoria Nuland to organize a faux-populist operation to depose Viktor Yanukovich, who was sympathetic to Putin’s concerns, and replace him with a failed stand-up comic in the person of Zelenskyy, who might just be a bigger looter of his country than the Biden family is of ours. And I’m not certain that all of those Eastern European nations are deserving of sympathy, considering how compliant and complicit they have been with that Deep State Ukraine initiative. So far as I am concerned, any nation that has been cheering on Ukraine in this war can bloody well now go beg Russia for oil on Putin’s terms, or suffer the consequences of their people’s rage about unaffordable energy prices.
There is no reason to speak to, reason with, negotiate with, or even acknowledge the Left. Run them over with a steamroller( now in diesel ).
Im am the left. I live in a blue state. Blue states pay more federal taxes per person than red states. Red states pay less on taxes than they receive from the federal government. Do you understand?
Wally, I do understand. You make a GREAT case for anti-Federalism. If we can stop Washington from sucking up our citizen’s money and redistributing it for their greatest political benefit, all while taking a skim off the top for “overhead,” we will have a much better republic.
Thanks for making this point!
Federalism, as distorted by democrats like FDR, is destroying the United States. Democrats are destroying the United States.
Yes. You’re an idiot.
I do understand. And your leftist policies are obviously so horrendous that the people gave a non-leftist power. We have roughly two years to clean up as much of your mess as possible. Listening to your lies and whining will only slow us down.
If Blue states are so great and wonderful, why are so many people and companies fleeing them for Red States? Will not be much longer where Blue states will resemble third world countries. Some already do.
But sadly, so do many Red States. Killwaukee is already turning into hell, Killadelphia and Chiraq have no-go zones. Ditto for Oakland. But Jackson, Mississippi and Pine Bluff, Arkansas are just as bad. Even Austin, Texas is a mess, in parts. I watch this guy’s videos a lot:
When you lie by omission, it is still a lie. Blue states receive more transfer payments in aggregate than red states. Inflation in the costs of goods and services necessitates higher payments by blue states, because they are poorly run. Blue states are the failure red states continuoulsy avoid.
Wall, do you understand that poor people get more in assistance than wealthy people and yet they pay less in taxes? Is that an issue for you.
Wally, do you suppose that people that pay more in taxes, i.e. the rich, should drive on better roads, get better police and fire protection, receive better medical attention when in the Emergency Room or have their votes count for more? Are you saying that the people of Mississippi should not be counted the same as the people from CA? Can we then start doing the same when differentiating between the white people in the tony suburbs vis a vis the inner city black folks?
Should the people in Boston’s mostly white Back Bay get better service than the people who are mostly black in Roxbury?
What is your point?
BTW, you live in a blue state and I am pretty sure that you are losing people, PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE THAT PAY TAXES, to red or purple states. Come on hot shot, tell us which great blue state you live in.
And, if you look at it, those Red States that suck up taxes, most likely have a much higher rate of black Democrats as opposed to whiter blue states. For example, Blue Massachusetts has a less than 7% rate of blacks as opposed to Red Mississippi which has over 36% blacks.
Please Blue States, entice more blacks to come live in your state, OK?
I am glad that many are finally realizing that you can no more rationally discuss with an islamist jihadi than with a woke prog/leftist. They have both been so indoctrinated and brainwashed that they only see the cult faith and nothing else. The same mentality that allowed 19 men to fly planes into towers is the same mental state of mind to eco-nuts who glue their hands to runways or drive cars through crowds of people … it is an agitated state of mind that blocks out reality and replaces it with a holy mission. You only have one way to deal with this type of behavior.
The Attorney General of Louisiana has already instigated such a lawsuit against this executive order. Unless there is explicit language in the law I don’t see why a president cannot undo an executive order otherwise you allow the president to make law and the Supreme Court has recently restricted law making to congress. The other option would be to use an old Obama move where an environmental group sued the Feds over certain regulations they did not like and the Obama Justice Dept would not defend the regulation or the law and would settle with their friendly environmental group and suddenly you had new regulations determined in court. If I were trump I would not defend the executive order and settle with Louisiana with the settlement stipulating the executive order is withdrawn.
Exact same technique used by King Roy Cooper and Prince Josh (then Governor and Attorney General for North Carolina…..now King Roy is gone due to term limits but Prince Josh is now King Josh with another weasel for an AG).
They used it in elections cases that of course all favored the Democrats.
When 26 States sued the Federal Government….North Carolina NEVER joined them.
So…turn about is fair play…what is good for the Goose is good for the Ganer….Karma is real….so now it appears the Republicans can use the Democrat Play Book against the Democrats. Sounds fair to me!
It is so important for the climate that Biden waited until his last few weeks to implement the ban.
I hope that the voters of PA are happy that they voted against Harris because she was lying every time she said she wasn’t against fracking. The Democrats hate America being strong in the energy field because it dovetails nicely with a) the leftist idiots that think my SUV will kill them, b) the grifters that make millions of the climate scam and c) the anti-Americans that want to harm America and the west and yet have no issue with China building coal plants. PS. China funds the anti-American groups.
You had me at: “Democrats hate America.” (because it’s true)
HullBobby,
Well said. How many green companies took huge amounts of Green Plan money, spent it on . . . something, mostly their paychecks, produced low quality or nothing at all and went bankrupt. Look how many wind companies are now calling for more money to subsidies them or they will raise the end consumer rates. Some are even saying both need to happen.
Upstate, the green scam is one of the greatest transfer of wealth to the politically connected that we have ever seen. Even St Obama got into the act with Solyndra.
Even if legal, Biden’s actions against America and its people feel sinister and insidious, almost like the calculated destruction caused by the Bourbon Street bomber.
As Biden drives out of the presidency, he’s leaving land mines and massive felled trees along the road to recovery, making it hard for Trump to succeed in ways we people directed DT to do. Un-American, undemocratic and leftist ideological to the bitter (as such he is) end.
michaelchildsf16e77d3c8,
Exactly! And when Trump cannot undo the hot mess the Biden left for Trump, the leftist will call Trump a failure ignoring all the road blocks Biden put in place. Here is just one that is coming, New Biden-Harris Medicare plan could cost taxpayers $20 billion in election-year giveaway, CBO warns
https://justthenews.com/government/congress/new-biden-harris-medicare-plan-could-cost-taxpayers-20-billion-over-next-three
Trump should have all his executive orders attached to the omnibus spending BILL and have the force of Law when he can. Trump should request a new Special Counsel be appointed by Congress to investigate Biden’s staff in the days after the election for misuse of power for all of Biden’s leftist actions. Biden is not cognitively able to do this. Trump should announce that anyone involved in these atrocities of staff usurping the President will be prosecuted.
I know it shouldn’t be a counter move, but Trump is now familiar with the notion of lawfare. So, the sue-baby-sue groups may see similar lawfare moves, such as a sue-(sue-baby-sue)-sue challenge to the environmental groups. It turns out, by Garland, that any charge is now valid, e.g. chewing gum on a public street. With the right judge, such a conviction may warrant a $500m penalty.
They will leave no other course to steer than a post presidency impeachment or establishment of an argument that Biden’s mental capacity is beyond impaired to be able to make such decisions. Pardons, stolen documents, bribery, his own stepping aside and his obvious diminished cognitive ability all pretty convincing evidence as well as the Hurd report. Scorched earth!
Yres, those are my thoughts too. Why haven’t they proceeded down that path to prove that he was never mentally capable of doing anything in office and all actions taken by the “white house” were null and void because those making decisions were never elected nor swore an oath.
This is exactly the sort of circumstance that Bill Barr was referring to obliquely when he said the country would not survive another four years of a Biden Administration.