Offshore oil, gas lease sales cut to fewest in U.S. history
WASHINGTON — The United States will hold just three offshore oil and gas lease sales over the next five years, the fewest in history, the Biden administration announced Friday, in a blow to the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore oil sector.
The announcement comes as the administration seeks to shift the nation off oil and natural gas in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-century, putting pressure on regional economies such as the Texas Gulf Coast to shift towards clean energy sources like offshore wind.
“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building a clean energy future that ensures America’s energy independence,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “The proposed program, which represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history, sets a course for the department to support the growing offshore wind industry and protect against the potential for environmental damage and adverse impacts to coastal communities.”
Lease sales for the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world’s largest offshore oil and gas fields, will be held in 2025, 2027 and 2029, the bare minimum that would allow the Biden administration to continue holding lease sales for offshore wind sales under last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. That legislation, which was negotiated with centrist Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and others, required at least 60 million acres off offshore oil and gas leases be made available if the administration was to move ahead on its plan to develop 30 gigawatts of offshore wind farms by 2030.
The plan is a far cry from that put forward by the Trump administration, which called for 47 lease sales in the Gulf, Alaska and the East and West Coasts but was never finalized. In a Friday statement, the Interior Department said that plan presented “risks to local coastal
economies — particularly for communities along the East and West Coast where offshore oil and gas development has not been authorized in decades, if ever.”
The move is likely to draw outcry from Republicans and an oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico, which until recent years had two opportunities a year to bid on blocks in which to drill.
“This restrictive offshore leasing program is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production,” Mike Sommers, president of American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement. “For decades, we’ve strived for energy security and this administration keeps trying to give it away.”
When the Interior Department released its proposed leasing plan last year, it said it would potentially hold 10 lease sales in the Gulf and one in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, both regions with established oil and gas activity.
But the Biden administration has come under fire from environmentalists in recent months over a series of decisions allowing large oil and gas projects to move ahead, among them Conoco Phillips’ Willow project in Alaska and the country’s largest oil export terminal south of Houston.
The administration received more than 760,000 comments from the public and industry over its proposed drilling plan.
For instance, the environmental group Oceana argued the administration should end offshore oil and gas leasing altogether if the world is to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“By failing to end new offshore drilling, President Biden missed an easy opportunity to do the right thing and deliver on climate for the American people,” Beth Lowell, vice president for the United States at the group, said in a statement. “This decision is beyond disappointing, as Americans face the impacts of the growing climate crisis through more frequent and intense fires, droughts, hurricanes, and floods.”
At a Senate hearing Thursday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, asked Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau whether Gulf states like his would be happy with the offshore lease program announcement.
“The program is definitely informed by the IRA and the connection the IRA makes between offshore oil and gas leasing and renewable energy leasing,” Beaudreau replied.