U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday repealing former President Joe Biden’s efforts to block oil drilling in the Arctic and along large areas off the U.S. coasts, according to the White House.
Biden this month banned new offshore oil and gas development along most U.S. coastlines ahead of Trump taking office.
Biden’s move had been considered mostly symbolic, as it would not impact areas where oil and gas development was currently underway, and mainly covered zones where drillers had no important prospects, including in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Trump also repealed a 2023 memo that barred oil drilling in some 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares) in the Arctic, the White House announced.
The oil drilling ban was one of dozens of actions taken by Biden that were repealed by Trump in his first day in office.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Anna Driver and Jamie Freed)