Trump Transition
Advertisement
Fact Check
The president-elect made inaccurate claims about his predecessor’s energy policies and repeated familiar falsehoods on a number of topics.
Linda Qiu
President-elect Donald J. Trump, in a news conference on Tuesday from his private club and residence in Florida, repeatedly denounced President Biden and made a series of inaccurate claims about energy policy.
Mr. Trump also reprised familiar falsehoods. Among them were specious claims about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the various criminal investigations into him, including whether he had improperly handled classified documents after he left office, as well as inaccurate assertions about topics ranging from international affairs and trade to whale deaths.
Here’s a fact-check.
What Was Said
“The 625 million acres people can’t realize — it’s like the whole ocean.”
False. Mr. Trump was referring to an executive order President Biden issued on Monday banning new oil and gas drilling on more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal water. That is about 20 percent of the 3.2 billion acres of seabed managed by the Interior Department and less than 1 percent of the 360 million square kilometers, or 89 billion acres, of ocean.
What Was Said
“It’s just massive and remember, that’s worth, probably, I mean, I’ve had estimates $40 to $50 trillion. That’s more than our national debt. Essentially, he’s thrown it away.”
This lacks evidence. It is unclear what Mr. Trump was referring to when he claimed that Mr. Biden had eliminated $50 trillion in value with his drilling ban. But if it was a reference to government revenue generated from potential offshore drilling on the 625 million acres, he is far off-base.
In a news release opposing Mr. Biden’s executive order, the American Petroleum Institute, which represents U.S. oil and gas companies, estimated that “robust” offshore drilling could generate over $8 billion in additional government revenue by 2040. (The federal government collected $74 billion in revenue from oil and gas leases on federal lands over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022.)
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement
