President Joe Biden continues to thwart as much of president-elect Donald Trump’s momentum before leaving office by moving to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most US coastal waters.

“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement.

“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean-energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” Biden said.

Biden said he is using authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing.

The New York Post reports that Biden’s orders would not affect large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico, where most US offshore drilling occurs, but would protect coastlines along California, Florida and other states from future drilling. The Post also notes Biden’s actions, which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to disentangle, since it would likely require an act of Congress to repeal.

Environmental groups have applauded Biden’s actions, claiming that new oil and gas drilling must decrease in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. “This is an epic ocean victory!” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana. Gordon thanked Biden “for listening to the voices from coastal communities” that oppose drilling and “contributing to the bipartisan tradition of protecting our coasts.”

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called Biden’s action “a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”