The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday plans to open more than 320,000 square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration after a court overturned a ban on such activities imposed by the regional government. This move represents a significant setback for the White House's ambitious climate agenda and has been immediately criticized by environmental advocacy groups.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management within the Interior Department stated that it would issue a final notice for the sale in September, with a request for bids in the fall of this year. Biden had announced in January a moratorium on new oil and gas exploration on federal lands pending a review, as the Democratic president seeks to prioritize climate change throughout his term.
However, a federal judge in Louisiana, appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled in June that the administration must seek congressional approval for the moratorium. A summary of the ruling posted online indicates that the government plans to sell up to 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 125 billion cubic meters of gas in public auctions.
The document references a new report from a panel of government experts on climate change, which outlines observations of rapid climate shifts worldwide, asserting that this is not a sufficient justification to modify the statement regarding the environmental impacts of exploration at this stage.
Following the publication of the text, environmental organizations led by the "Earth Justice" coalition initiated legal action against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of "Healthy Gulf," stated, "In the wake of Hurricane Ida, it is clear we need to do everything we can to move away from fossil fuels to mitigate the impacts of climate change, such as stronger and more frequent hurricanes."
For her part, Brittany Hardy, a lawyer for the coalition, expressed that "this sale is a great disappointment," arguing that "the Biden administration has yielded to the oil industry based on misleading campaigns and political pressure, ignoring the escalating climate emergency we face."
