The Biden administration has announced its plans to limit oil drilling by leasing off the Alaskan coast.
Late last month, the Department of the Interior (DOI) published its proposed plan to lease oil and gas drilling rights across the Gulf of Mexico in 2025, 2027, and 2029. It is set to be finalized by the end of this year.
The plan represents the lowest number of offshore lease sales ever proposed by the federal government and prohibits leasing in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as off the coast of Alaska.
The federal government is required to issue plans every five years outlining potential offshore oil and gas lease sales under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The most recent plan, which went into effect in 2017, had already expired in June 2022.
“The release of the U.S. offshore leasing program, mandated by law and long overdue, is an utter failure for the country,” Erik Milito, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents both traditional and renewable offshore energy producers, said in a statement.
“President Biden’s approach significantly curtails access to a critical national asset at a time when energy inflation is rampant, the likelihood of a national recession looms, and global efforts are intensifying to curb greenhouse gas emissions,” Milito added. “The White House simply ignores our energy realities in once again limiting U.S. energy production opportunities.”
On July 1, 2022, the draft proposal for the DOI’s new five-year plan was published, which included a number of lease possibilities for the years 2024 to 2029. It included a maximum option of 11 lease sales as well as an alternative with no lease sales throughout the time period. The department’s proposal is a compromise that will likely receive pushback from both environmentalists and proponents of fossil fuels.
The Biden administration also issued a proposal earlier last month to block off 2.8 million acres in the Beaufort Sea off the northern coast of Alaska from oil and gas leasing.
“With climate change warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, we must do everything within our control to meet the highest standards of care to protect this fragile ecosystem,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said at the time. “President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in history.”
