President Donald Trump has attempted to reverse a ban on future oil and gas drilling in more than 625 million acres of federal water in a sweeping day-one executive order rescinding nearly 80 executive actions issued by former President Joe Biden. 

Trump signed the executive order at the Capital One Arena on Monday evening as roughly 20,000 of his supporters watched on in an unprecedented show of executive power.

The order rescinds 78 executive orders and actions issued by the former administration, including protections for federal waters that bar future drilling operations. Trump may face roadblocks in successfully reversing that ban based on precedent.

Trump’s order comes just weeks after the White House announced Biden was invoking his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to bar new oil and gas drilling in some federal waters. 

The 1953 law controls developments for offshore oil and gas drilling, allowing presidents to permanently protect federal waters from future leasing and, therein, future drilling. 

However, it has been widely debated whether Trump is legally able to reverse those protections, as the law does not include language explicitly saying whether future presidents can. 

In his order, Biden banned new drilling off the entire East Coast and the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington state. Drilling is also to be barred in some areas off of Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The ban did not affect existing leases or drilling operations and did not target areas that are considered to be drilling hubs, such as the western and central regions of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Biden’s order was immediately met with criticism from Trump and his Republican allies, who claimed it was a politically motivated decision. 

It is not the first time Trump has attempted to reverse such protections in federal waters. The Republican attempted to do so during his first term in office, targeting a ban implemented by former President Barack Obama. The Democrat had banned offshore drilling in some regions of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. 

Trump’s efforts were for naught, however, as a judge ruled in 2019 that only Congress would be able to revoke such a ban. 

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Despite this ruling, Trump has since insisted he has the “right” to reverse Biden’s order. 

It remains unclear if and how quickly this executive order may be challenged in the courts.