The entire Northern Bering Sea has now been closed off to all oil and gas drilling with thanks to a flick of a pen and a final flourish from the departing US president, Joe Biden who issued the protection of some 625 million acres of US marine space on Monday.

While not quite enough to cover the claims made by the incoming president elect, Donald Trump, at a wild press conference earlier this week that the protections “cover the whole ocean”, it certainly completes a process of locking the Northern Bering Sea off entirely from any future oil and gas exploration prospects that first got underway back in 2016.

It was an earlier action from President Barack Obama some eight years ago that established a Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, with protections that put about half the region off-limits to oil and gas leasing. Biden’s action, carried out under the Outer Continental Shelf Act, has now added the rest of the designated climate resilience area – some 44 millions acres – to the no-leasing category. 

Along with the Northern Bering Sea, Biden’s action affected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and, in all, banned oil and gas leasing in over 625 million acres of US ocean territory. The move was made, said Biden, to reflect local and regional concerns over the “irreversible damage” that would be caused by any prospective drilling.

“Coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” said Biden.

It flies in direct conflict with what has become the Trumpian battle cry to “drill baby, drill” in relation to the incoming president’s promise to super-charge the US oil and gas sector over his coming four-year term, and is a move that has found itself with praise from all quarters of the conservationist camp, particularly those advocating for the 70 native tribes across Western Alaska and Bering regions.

“The Northern Bering Sea area has been home to our ancestors for thousands of years, and it will be home to our descendants for thousands of years to come. President Biden’s action responds to our longstanding request,” said representatives from Kawerak, Association of Village Council Presidents, and Bering Sea Elders Group.

“Tribes in our regions have opposed offshore oil and gas activities since commercial leasing was first proposed in the early 1980s. For decades, we have sought permanent protections from leasing and we are grateful that President Biden has fulfilled our request.

“We hope this action puts to rest any controversy about oil and gas operations in our waters and we look forward to working with our Tribes, state and federal government agencies, and others to advance inclusive and sustainable management in our region.”

The 112,300-square-mile Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area first established by Obama in 2016 was developed with an initial focus on the opposition of bottom trawling – a fishing method that uses nets to sweep the ocean floor for certain species of groundfish.

According to a 2021 resource assessment published by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy, the entire Bering Sea holds “only negligible amounts of oil or natural gas” that could be feasible to develop. Biden’s action on Monday affects neither Cook Inlet or any other parts of Alaska. Neither does it affect any existing leases, planned lease sales, or ongoing development and production in the central or western Gulf of Mexico, where almost all US offshore oil and gas is currently produced.

Nevertheless, campaign and conservation groups have been quick to praise the move by the outgoing US president for, in his final days within the White House, taking bold and decisive steps towards “securing a clean ocean energy future”.

“Oil and gas development has wreaked havoc on our ocean through daily leaks, massive spills, and extreme air and water pollution,” said Anna-Marie Laura, senior director of climate policy at Ocean Conservancy. “We must, and can, end offshore oil and gas production and move towards responsible, renewable energy sources to protect our ocean.

“Protecting these areas under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act enjoys support across the aisles as well as up and down our country’s coastlines. The president has responded to calls from coastal towns, communities, tribal leaders, and countless others who depend on a clean, healthy ocean, and we are grateful for his leadership.”

The incoming US president Donald Trump has previously vowed to swiftly undo Biden’s ban, as well as numerous other policies, telling reporters that he will “put it back to day one” and pledging to take it to the courts “if we need to”.

It’s uncertain right now just how easy it will be for these reversals to be made, a point that will no doubt become clearer following his inauguration back into the White House on January 20th.

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