Washington: The White House blocked new leases for oil and gas drilling in sections of the Arctic and Atlantic on Wednesday, a high-stakes bid to forestall exploration and tie President-elect Donald Trump’s hands.
With Mr Trump bringing a strident pro-oil stance to the White House, the outgoing administration has launched a rearguard action.
President Barack Obama announced he was placing swaths of the Arctic and Atlantic “indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing.” The protection covers an area of the Arctic roughly the size of Spain or Thailand and 31 sea canyons in the Atlantic.
A senior administration official said there was a “strong legal basis” for the move, and Mr Trump could not revoke the decision without an act of Congress.
The action, based on a law from the 1950s, was taken in tandem with the Canadian government and introduces an additional headache should Mr Trump try to row it back.
Mr Obama said in a statement that the measures would “protect a sensitive and unique ecosystem.”
