Biden appears to promise 'no more drilling' when climate change protester confronts him about oil drilling

President Joe Biden promised "no more drilling" on Sunday after a climate protester confronted him at a campaign event for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

What did Biden say?

Toward the end of his speech, a clearly agitated Biden responded to a heckler who criticized him for not stopping offshore oil drilling.

"No more drilling," Biden declared. "There is no more drilling. I haven’t formed any new drilling."

"There are at least five more years of offshore drilling," the protester shouted back, "not in the Atlantic or the Pacific but in the Antarctic and off the gulf of Mexico."

Biden then told the heckler those leases were finalized "before I was president," explaining that "we’re trying to work on that and get that done." It is not exactly clear what Biden was referring to, but it sounded like he confirmed that his administration is trying to end offshore drilling, thus further decreasing American oil production and increasing our reliance on foreign energy.

Biden actually spoke with the woman after the event, the Washington Examiner reported.

What is the significance?

Biden's admission came just two days before voters nationwide head to the polls.

In an election where voters repeatedly say the economy is the most important issue — especially as Americans face sky-high inflation and high gas prices — promising to significantly cut American oil production will not help Democrats.

Even worse, Biden was already facing energy-related criticism after vowing to shut down every coal plant in the U.S.

"So it's going to become a wind generation," Biden said on Friday. "And all they're doing is it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on."

"We're going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power," Biden proclaimed.

The White House later claimed Biden's remarks had been "twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended" — but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) did not buy it.

"President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs," Manchin responded in a statement.

"Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all-in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure," he proclaimed. "It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day."