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The Biden administration released its long-awaited five-year oil and gas leasing plan on Friday, one day after missing a June deadline.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) plan included the option for the federal government to conduct up to 11 lease sales off the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico over the five-year period between 2023-2028. However, the plan also offered the option for the federal government to conduct no sales on lease during the same period of time.
“From day one, President Biden and I have made clear our commitment to transitioning to a clean energy economy,” Interior Minister Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Today we are offering an opportunity for the American people to consider and provide input on the future of offshore oil and gas leasing. Now is the time for the public to judge our future.”
The plan does not include any potential sales in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, effectively blocking drilling off the East and West coasts. In the first version of the DOI plan, the Trump administration sought a total of 47 sales in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.
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Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, the federal government is required to issue offshore lease plans every five years that outline future oil and gas lease sales. The current 2017-2022 plan expired on Thursday.
Haaland previously promised the DOI would issue the plan by Thursday. The administration delayed the announcement without giving a reason.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks during a news conference on July 22, 2021 in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File/AP Newsroom)
“Against this backdrop, I am disappointed to see that ‘zero’ lease sales are even an option on the table,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin, DW.V., said in a statement. “There is already more than enough flexibility in the program to adjust sales later, which the administration previously took advantage of to cancel three sales earlier this year.”
“Our leasing programs are a critical component of American energy security,” he added.
The current and previous plans, both formulated by the Obama administration, included more than 10 offshore oil and gas lease sales.
In May, the DOI canceled the three remaining lease sales planned under the current plan, one of which covers more than a million acres in Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska. While the administration held a Gulf of Mexico lease sale in the fall, it chose not to appeal a federal court ruling overturning the sale over environmental objections.
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“Now more than ever, we need the administration to deliver an energy policy that will promote energy affordability for Americans and advance our national security interests,” National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Eric Milito. “This proposed leasing plan is only one step in the process, and it is imperative that the administration act quickly to finalize and implement the program as proposed without reduced acreage.”
Gasoline prices are advertised at over six dollars a gallon in Los Angeles, California. ((AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) / AP Newsroom)
NOIA, which represents offshore fossil fuel and wind energy companies, issued a report in March along with the American Petroleum Institute predicting that domestic oil production would decline, thousands of jobs would be lost and US gross domestic product would shrink. if DOI does not issue a replacement five-year plan.
Environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers, however, urged the president to issue a five-year plan without any planned leases. On Tuesday, 10 Democratic senators, led by Sen. Bob Menendez, DN.J., wrote a letter to Haaland urging her not to grant a new lease.
“While I’m obviously pleased to see a significant reduction in the size of the new potential offshore lease compared to what was proposed by the last administration, I certainly don’t see that as a comforting standard,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, D- Ariz., said in a statement after the plan was released Friday.
“Despite my disappointment in leaving the door open for nearly a dozen new lease sales over the next five years, I take comfort in knowing that the Biden administration has made it clear that it will listen to environmental justice communities on the front lines and will consult with tribes,” he continued.
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Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order halting new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters. But a federal court halted the policy with an injunction effective June 2021.
The plan released on Friday is a “proposed programme”, meaning the government still has to hold a 90-day public consultation period and issue a follow-up proposal before the plan is finalised.
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Meanwhile, the national average gasoline price hit $4.84 a gallon on Friday, near its all-time high of about $5 a gallon set on June 14, according to AAA data.
Republican lawmakers blamed high pump prices on the Biden administration’s climate agenda and a decision not to hold as many lease sales as previous administrations.
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