Washington [US]: A federal judge has termed US President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans as “unlawful”.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Friday said, Trump’s 2017 order “is unlawful, as it exceeded the president’s authority.”
The Obama administration’s leasing withdrawals of about 120 million acres of the waters “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress”, she added.
Former President Barack Obama issued a ban on drilling in his second term through the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which allows presidents to instate leasing withdrawals but does not allow presidents to revoke such withdrawals without approval from Congress, reported The Hill.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]