Appeals Court Orders Biden Administration to Proceed with Offshore Oil Lease Sale Without Environmental Restrictions
Story by TheStockDork •
20h
A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of energy industry groups, ordering the Biden administration to hold a large offshore oil and gas lease sale without environmental restrictions. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) must move forward with Lease Sale 261 in the Gulf of Mexico, which was originally scheduled for September but was delayed due to last-minute environmental restrictions imposed by BOEM.
The court’s decision has been applauded by the American Petroleum Institute (API), with API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers highlighting the importance of energy independence and the role of the Gulf of Mexico in maintaining affordable and reliable American energy production. The ruling upholds a lower court decision that struck down the federal government’s modification of Lease Sale 261, which included environmental restrictions and the blocking off of millions of acres that were previously set to be leased.
One of the main points of contention in the case was the protection of the endangered species Rice’s whale. While the settlement with environmental groups expanded protections for the species, the appeals court ultimately concluded that delaying Lease Sale 261 would not effectively protect the whale, as it rarely inhabits the area where the leases are being offered. The court stated that “at least one whale would need to traverse the area in which oil-and-gas activities are occurring under Lease Sale 261 and be killed by such activities,” which was deemed unlikely based on previous environmental reviews.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/appeals-court-orders-biden-administration-to-proceed-with-offshore-oil-lease-sale-without-environmental-restrictions/ar-AA1k37kc?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b7f48d3b50c14e019372c15308c79b7e&ei=42
