BREAKING: Biden administration opens 80 million acres of Gulf of Mexico for oil leasing

 

Just two days after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, the Biden administration has bowed to industry pressure and offered up over 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing.  Late last night, we filed a lawsuit to challenge this incredibly reckless decision. Our planet simply cannot handle more stress from oil and gas production, and yet the Biden administration is plowing ahead with a lease sale that will have impacts for decades into the future. In the face of multiple climate-fueled emergencies across the country, the actions of this administration speak much louder than the empty promises about addressing the climate crisis.  This lease sale relies on a flawed and out-of-date environmental analysis from 2017. Since then, significant information has emerged about the dire state of the climate crisis and the potential for increased harm to endangered species, including the Rice’s whale, one of the most endangered whales on the planet, which is only found in the Gulf of Mexico. For too long the Gulf of Mexico has been treated like an oil and gas sacrifice zone. Underregulated oil and gas development has consistently put Gulf Coast communities, coastal economies, and thousands of whales, sea turtles, dolphins, oysters, and other species in danger. My colleagues and I will use every legal tool at our disposal to stop this lease sale. We are in for a tough fight and we are so grateful for your support.    . Sincerely, Brettny Hardy Senior Attorney Earthjustice, 50 California Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94111

President Biden ran on a platform of climate action. He’s running from that commitment with this expansion of fossil fuels.

Allowing more oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is bad for the climate, wildlife, and communities.

• The oil industry, with the federal government’s greenlight, has for too long treated the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice zone. This decision invites more destruction and disasters for Gulf Coast communities already suffering from rising temperatures, flooding, and pollution.
• Underregulated oil and gas development puts Gulf Coast communities, coastal economies, and marine life at risk. Impacted species include sea turtles, dolphins, oysters, and whales — including the Rice’s whale, which is only found in the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the most endangered whales on the planet.
• President Biden has acknowledged that we are facing a “profound climate crisis” and have little time left to pursue bold actions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts. Yet his administration determined that a United Nations report that warned climate change was becoming a cataclysmic problem "does not present sufficient cause" to revise an existing environmental analysis of this lease sale.

Earthjustice has filed a federal lawsuit to hold the government accountable to the science and its lawful duty to people and the planet.

• Officials violated federal law by relying on a flawed and out-of-date environmental analysis from 2017. Since then, significant information has emerged about the severity of the climate crisis. The administration is legally obligated to evaluate this information before taking any action.
• The Biden administration used the same flawed analysis weeks earlier in a case involving a massive oil and gas project in the Western Arctic. But Earthjustice held strong and shut them down in court.
• On August 31, we filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management following the notice of lease sale 257. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to stop this lease sale. It is Earthjustice’s goal to put an end to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

Tell the administration that we need to end new lease sales on public lands and waters.

Our federal fossil fuel leasing program is rigged to benefit corporate polluters