[ad_1]
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – President Joe Biden’s administration said it followed a court order to schedule a sale of offshore oil and gas leases for the Gulf of Mexico after the Democratic president’s moratorium on new oil leases and gas on federal land was blocked by a judge.
The sale will be broadcast live from New Orleans on November 17, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in a press release on Thursday. The call for tenders will only be made by post; walk-in offers will not be accepted, he said.
The agency postponed lease sales slated for March to comply with Biden’s decree to tackle climate change. Scientists are calling for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst consequences of global warming, including devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts.
But Louisiana and 12 other states filed a lawsuit, and in June a federal judge found that the government had failed to take steps required for such actions. The administration said in August it would comply by appealing the judge’s order.
“The Biden Harris administration is continuing its full review of the shortcomings associated with its offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programs,” the office statement said.
The sale will cover approximately 136,000 square miles ranging from 3 miles to 231 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico with water depths ranging from 9 feet to over 11,115 feet.
Less than 2% of the available aquatic grounds were rented in August 2020.
The agency said the lease clauses will protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential negative effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts between oil and gas development and other activities and users in the Gulf of Mexico.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia joined Louisiana in contesting the suspension of the sale of the lease.
The programming “is good news for the American worker and our national security,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.
“The Gulf of Mexico in the United States supports more than 345,000 jobs, many of which are accessible, well-paying and cannot be easily replaced, and generates essential government revenues for conservation and recreation programs,” he said. -he declares.
And, he said, U.S. offshore oil and gas produces less carbon than the imports that would be needed if U.S. wells all shut down.
Several environmental groups sued Home Secretary Debra Haaland in August, trying to prevent the sale. The lawsuit, brought by Friends Of The Earth, Healthy Gulf, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, argues that the office failed to comply with a legal obligation to carefully study the environmental impacts of the sale and has significantly under -estimated these effects.
“Climate change is rapidly escalating storms in the Gulf, fueling uncontrollable wildfires in the West and threatening many species with extinction,” said Kristen Monsell, director of ocean litigation at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We must put an end to offshore oil drilling, not to burden future generations with this dirty and dangerous madness.”
[ad_2]
Source link