— it is the latest in a flurry of last-minute efforts to protect the environment and preserve president obama’s legacy on climate change. in the last month, he has issued a permanent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in large areas of the arctic and much of the eastern seaboard; announced two new national monuments in utah and nevada, protecting 1.65 million acres of federal land; and denied six permits for oil exploration in the atlantic, partly because the seismic testing harms marine animals. read article : a bumblebee gets new protection on obama’s way out