After Fifth Circuit ruling, Gulf lease sales scheduled for Dec. 20
By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor After the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ order last week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it scheduled Lease Sale 261 in the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico for Dec. 20. In September, a federal judge ruled the Biden administration must go through with offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico by Sept. 27 as originally planned and under original conditions. The Fifth Circuit concurred but amended the ruling, pushing back the lease sale date to Nov. 8. Last week, the appellate court ruled that the Biden administration must hold the lease sale within 37 days of its ruling on Wednesday. It also ordered BOEM to include 6 million acres in the Gulf that it had previously removed from the sale. Earlier this year, BOEM reached a settlement with environmental groups opposing the sale to purportedly protect an endangered whale species. BOEM announced, “Pursuant to direction from the Court,” it will “include lease blocks that were previously excluded due to concerns regarding potential impacts to the Rice’s whale population in the Gulf of Mexico. BOEM will also remove portions of a related stipulation meant to address those potential impacts from the lease terms for any leases that may result from Lease Sale 261.” Environmental groups opposing offshore drilling allege the industry would cause an endangered whale species to go extinct because it only lives in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico. In 2019, NOAA Fisheries designated the Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whale as an endangered subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. In 2021, it expanded the designation to include Rice’s whale, which is also protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The state of Louisiana, American Petroleum Institute and petroleum companies, Chevron and Shell, sued, arguing BOEM’s policies violated federal law. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the rulings were “a major win not only for the rule of law, but also for Louisiana jobs and affordable energy. At a time when working families are being squeezed by unaffordable Bidenomics, I am glad to deliver yet another victory defeating overreaching bureaucrats. … Congress is clear: lease sales must take place; so we are grateful the Judge cut through the noise and upheld the law.” BOEM issued A Final Notice of Sale for public inspection Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. It will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, it said. The opening of bids will be live streamed at 9 am CDT on Dec. 20. All terms and conditions of the lease sale are listed online. The Fifth Circuit’s decision also came after the U.S. Department of Interior issued in September a five-year plan to impose even greater restrictions on federal offshore oil and gas leasing. LOGA President Mike Moncla said that while the Inflation Reduction Act “promised us anywhere from zero to eleven offshore lease sales,” the Department of the Interior was “only committing to three for the next five years. This will curtail discoveries for years to come.” “Every other administration prior to this one had Five-Year Plans that enabled uninterrupted leasing activities,” he said. “This action will negatively impact Louisiana jobs and diminish GOMESA funds that are rebuilding our coast. The Gulf of Mexico provides 15% of our nation’s oil. These attempts to slow, or halt offshore production hurts all Americans at the pump and makes us more dependent on foreign oil.” “As predictable as” the department’s plan is, Moncla said it was “still disappointing to see that the Biden administration’s war on the oil and gas industry rages on” at a time when “worldwide demand for oil and gas is at record levels and our products will continue to be necessary for decades to come.” The U.S. oil and natural gas industry, led by the Gulf states of Texas and Louisiana, set records in petroleum exports and were the top exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the first half of 2023. This is after the U.S. became the world’s largest LNG exporter in the first half of 2022, led by the two Gulf states, the EIA previously reported. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Judge issues permanent injunction on Biden administration ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, waters
A federal judge sided with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and 12 other plaintiff states in a Louisiana-led lawsuit, issuing a permanent injunction against the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and water. U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued the permanent injunction, declaring that the president exceeded his authority when halting oil and gas leasing and drilling permits. “I am pleased the Court recognized that the President stepped outside his authority,” Landry said in a statement. “Biden’s energy policies have crushed American families with higher energy bills for their homes and vehicles.” Doughty ruled that Joe Biden’s executive order issued on January 27, 2021, violated the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and was “beyond the authority of the President of the United States. Even the President cannot make significant changes to the OCSLA and/or the MLA that Congress did not delegate.” The order implemented a moratorium on new development of oil and gas fields on federal lands just days after the U.S. Interior Department also imposed restrictions on existing leases. Also, under Biden’s directive, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Land Management halted long-planned lease sales, which the lawsuit argued violated federal law and the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Landry said his office “will continue to ensure that American energy policy is crafted by the Legislative Branch, not the Judiciary or Executive. We must keep fighting and winning to bring relief to American consumers.” The permanent injunction was issued more than a year after Doughty issued a preliminary injunction on June 15, 2021. The Biden administration appealed the decision, arguing the president has the authority to halt leasing. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and sent the case back to Doughty, which resulted in him issuing a permanent injunction. Neighboring Gulf state Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who joined the multi-state lawsuit, said the president’s moratorium was “an all-out assault against oil and natural gas production [and] would have killed good-paying jobs and increased consumer energy costs, all while decreasing funds that could be used for the restoration of state coastlines.” The states joining Louisiana and Texas in the lawsuit were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia. “Joe Biden may have declared war on American energy independence, but we’re fighting back, and we’re winning in court,” Paxton said in a statement. “The executive order was a clear example of unconstitutional federal overreach, and I’m pleased to see the court make the right decision in issuing a permanent injunction to prevent it from taking effect.” In his 43-page ruling, Doughty said, “Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake. Local government funding, jobs for Plaintiff States’ workers, and funds for the restoration of . . . Coastline[s] are at stake. Plaintiff States have a reliance interest in the proceeds derived from offshore and onshore oil and gas lease sales. Additionally, the public interest is served when the law is followed. The public will be served if Government Defendants are enjoined from taking actions contrary to law. In a time of high gas and oil prices, draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and looking to other nations to supply the United States’ oil and gas needs, the public interest would be served by a permanent injunction.” The administration hasn’t yet issued a statement on the ruling, and another appeal to the Fifth Circuit is expected to be unsuccessful. While Texas leads the U.S. in oil and natural gas production, Louisiana accounts for nearly one-fifth of America’s refining capacity and can process about 3.2 million barrels of crude oil a day. Louisiana has the third-highest natural gas production and reserves in the U.S. and consistently ranks among the top in both crude oil reserves and crude oil production. U.S. Gulf of Mexico energy producers supply nearly 15% of the U.S. oil production and over 2% of natural gas production. Offshore oil and natural gas development supports over 350,000 jobs nationwide and contributes billions to the economy and local, state, and federal coffers. Gulf oil and gas revenues also fund 60% of federal energy revenue that support numerous conservation projects. The ruling came after the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association urged the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to ensure that the Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program include all 10 of the proposed lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the proposed sale for the Cook Inlet in Alaska. It expressed concern that the agency potentially “Leaving open the option to hold zero future lease sales puts U.S. energy security at risk and compromises U.S. producers’ ability to provide affordable, reliable energy to the American people.” “Independent analysis shows that oil and natural gas are going to play an important role in fulfilling U.S. energy needs for the foreseeable future,” Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association,” said. “The question is whether the oil and gas will come from here in the U.S., where it is produced under some of the strictest environmental standards in the world, or if the U.S. will cede our position as global energy leaders and instead become reliant on foreign sources to supply our energy needs.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
