NORTH DAKOTA – North Dakota energy-industry officials are pondering the potential impact of President Joe Biden’s executive order banning new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters.
White House officials say Biden’s last-minute effort to block possible action by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling when he takes office two weeks from now encompasses areas along both coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing.
The order reportedly won’t curb drilling in other parts of the Gulf where most U.S. offshore drilling is underway; nor is it likely to impact North Dakota’s ongoing oil- and gas-drilling operations.