Biden admin finalizes most restrictive offshore oil drilling plan in US history
'The White House simply ignores energy realities by once again limiting US energy production opportunities,' lead energy group says
By Thomas Catenacci Fox News
Published December 15, 2023 5:34pm EST
The Biden administration on Friday finalized a plan to dramatically curb the number of offshore oil and gas lease sales over the next five years as it continues to aggressively push green energy development.
The Department of the Interior's (DOI) five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program schedules just three Gulf of Mexico lease sales through 2029, marking the fewest number of sales ever included in such a plan, which the agency is mandated to issue periodically. According to the DOI, holding the sales will enable future offshore wind leases under an Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provision that tethers the two.
"President Biden’s approach to severely limit leasing significantly curtails access to a critical national asset," Erik Milito, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents both traditional and renewable offshore energy producers, said in a statement Friday. "The White House simply ignores energy realities by once again limiting U.S. energy production opportunities."
"With global demand at record levels and continuing to rise, regressive policies will harm Americans of all walks of life by putting upward pressure on prices at the pump, destroying good-paying jobs that form the fabric of Gulf Coast communities, and relinquishing geopolitical advantages of energy production to countries like Russia, Iran and China," he continued.
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