Offshore drilling proposal would allow up to 11 lease sales
NEW ORLEANS >> President Joe Biden's administration on Friday proposed up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the Alaska coast over the next five years — going against the Democrat's climate promises but scaling back a Trump-era plan that called for dozens of offshore drilling opportunities including in undeveloped areas.
Administration officials said fewer than 11 lease sales — or even no lease sales at all — could occur, with a final decision not due for months. New drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts would be blocked, after being considered under
Trump.
The proposal brought backlash from both environmentalists — who accused Biden of betraying the climate cause — and oil industry officials and allies, who said it would do little to help counter high energy prices.
Gasoline prices averaged $4.84 a gallon on Friday, a strain on commuters and a political albatross for Biden's fellow Democrats going into the midterm elections. That has left the White House scrambling for solutions, including Biden's call last week for suspension of the 18.4 cents a gallon federal gas tax.
The Interior Department had suspended lease sales in late January because of climate concerns but was forced to resume them by a U.S. district judge in Louisiana.
The Biden administration cited conflicting court rulings about that decision when it canceled the last scheduled lease sales in the Gulf and Alaska during the previous offshore leasing cycle. That prior five-year cycle, a program adopted under former President Barack Obama, expired on Thursday.
There will be a monthslong gap before a new plan can be put in place. The oil industry and its allies say the delay could cause problems in planning new drilling and potentially lead to decreased oil production.
There's unlikely to be an offshore lease sale until well into next year, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's top lobbying group.
And, he said, administration officials “went out of their way to say” there might not be any lease sales at all.
Biden in recent weeks has criticized oil producers and refiners for maximizing profits and making “more money than God,” rather than increasing production in response to higher prices as the economy recovers from the pandemic and feels the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The leasing announcement was a bitter disappointment to environmentalists and some Democrats who rallied around thencandidate Biden when he promised to end new drilling in federal lands and waters.
The proposal comes a day after the administration held its first onshore lease sales, drawing $22 million in an auction that gives energy companies drilling rights on about 110 square miles in seven western states.