President Obama has announced what amounts to a ban of offshore drilling in huge swaths of continental shelf in both the Alaskan Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, a decision which came after years of pushing by environmental groups. Using authority derived from Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act , the White House banned drilling in a 115 acre area making up 98 percent of federally owned lands in the Alaskan Arctic and a 3.8 million acre stretch of the Atlantic extending from Norfolk, Virginia, to the Canadian border. By taking this route, rather than issuing an Executive Order, Obama made it legally difficult for Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s administration to reverse this action. Environmental groups and Democratic senators have praised the decision, while Republican congressional members and industry groups have denounced it. “Today … the United States is taking historic steps to build a strong Arctic […]