The entire Northern Bering Sea is now off-limits to oil and gas leasing, under a presidential directive announced on Monday. President Joe Biden invoked his authority under a federal law to withdraw about 44 million acres of the Northern Bering Sea and other federal offshore areas from the Department of the Interior’s oil and gas

In response, Alaska’s new U.S. representative, Nick Begich III, called Biden a “son of a bitch” on social media and incorrectly suggested the action applied to Cook Inlet.

The decision adds to a closure Obama created. It’s not clear Trump can reverse it without an act of Congress. The oil and gas industry is not active in the area.

President Biden blocked future oil and gas development across 625M acres of U.S. waters, including the Northern Bering Sea. Alaska Native groups praised the protection.

Alaska’s congressional delegation is responding on Monday—some members more vocally than others—to the White House’s announcement that President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.

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President Joe Biden will prohibit future oil and gas leasing across large swaths of the Atlantic, Pacific, eastern Gulf of Mexico and North Bering Sea.

The ban affects the entire Eastern Seaboard, the Pacific Coast along California, Oregon and Washington, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Bering Sea.

President Joe Biden has announced prohibitions on future oil and gas drilling across parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Northern Bering Sea. This withdrawal of rights will not affect the majority of offshore drilling in the U.

The president will prohibit future oil and gas drilling off the East and West coasts, eastern Gulf of Mexico and remaining portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea