The Biden administration's plan for oil and gas drilling off the coast of the United States could allow new lease sales in both the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet in Alaska.
Every five years, the Department of the Interior must issue a plan for new oil and gas leases. The new one, which establishes where the government can sell oil and gas leases, comes at a bad time for President Biden.
He wants to scale back drilling in order to fight climate change at the same time that gas prices are going up. Most energy experts agree that the jump in oil prices is a result of the swine flu and the Russian invasion ofUkraine. The time it takes for a drilling lease to be issued is years.
Hold no lease sales at all is one of the options put forward by the five-year plan. There are 10 possible sales in the western and central Gulf of Mexico and one in the Cook Inlet off of south-central Alaska, according to another option. Since 1995, the eastern Gulf of Mexico has been off limits to drilling.
Deb Haaland, the Interior Secretary, said that President Biden and she made clear their commitment to transition to a clean energy economy. We want the American people to have a say in the future of offshore oil and gas leasing. The public has a chance to make a difference on our future.
The release of the plan could anger the fossil fuel industry and environmental advocates.
President Biden has been accused of limiting supply by oil industry leaders who argue that more drilling in the US is needed to bring down gas prices.
With carbon emissions from oil, gas and coal climbing, environmental activists argue that Mr. Biden should forbid new drilling.
Drew Caputo is the vice president of litigation at Earthjustice, an environmental organization. The option to include lease sales is a failure of climate leadership, he said.
According to the International Energy Agency, new coal mines and oil and gas fields must be stopped in order to hold global warming to an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius. That is the point at which the likelihood increases of catastrophic heat waves, droughts, flooding and extinctions. Since the Industrial Revolution, Earth has warmed an average of 1.1 degrees.
Mr. Biden promised to stop new drilling on public lands. A federal judge in Louisiana blocked his temporary moratorium on new leases. The decision is being appealed.
The first and only offshore drilling auction for millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico was overturned by a different judge who said the government had not considered the effects of climate change thoroughly. The administration did not appeal the decision.
The act requires a five-year plan. The current plan expired on Thursday. The plan to open most of the United States waters to drilling was opposed by Florida Republicans who were worried about the impact on tourism.
According to experts, Mr. Biden's plan is late this year. The public will be able to comment on the plan for 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
The Interior Department said that Mr. Trump proposed 47 lease sales in every coastal area of the country. Officials said that the Biden plan narrowed the area that could be leased to the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet, where there is existing production and infrastructure.
The proposed plan may not be in the final version, according to the agency. The final measure won't include areas like the Atlantic, Pacific and theArctic.
Political ramifications are expected from Mr. Biden's draft plan. The swing vote in the Senate, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin III, has urged the president to give more drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico in order to lower energy prices.
Mr. Manchin was upset that the no-lease option was included in the plan.
A critical component of American energy security is our leasing programs. I hope the administration greenlights a plan that expands domestic energy production.
The plan was called a punch in the gut by the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce.
According to Representative Grijalva, oil and gas companies have leased 8 million acres of offshore waters that haven't been developed.
The new drilling plan was so sensitive that Mr. Biden's closest aides had to negotiate the location of future drilling.
Mr. Biden has pledged to cut United States emissions by 50 percent by the year 2020. The Supreme Court restricted the EPA's ability to reduce climate pollution from power plants on Thursday.
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