A legal battle has emerged between the oil and gas sector, the state of Louisiana, and Chevron, as they jointly filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration. The lawsuit challenges the government’s decision to withdraw acreage from an upcoming oil and gas lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico, with the intention of safeguarding an endangered whale species.
This lawsuit reflects the ongoing tensions between the oil and gas industry and President Joe Biden’s administration regarding the leasing of federal lands and waters for energy development.
The Biden administration had initially halted federal drilling auctions as part of its climate change agenda after taking office in 2021. However, the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted a year ago, mandates the government to conduct the Gulf of Mexico lease auction, scheduled for the upcoming month.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal court for the Western District of Louisiana, follows the finalization of plans by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to proceed with the lease auction. The sale notice included updated restrictions on development, aimed at protecting the endangered Rice’s whale.
Ryan Meyers, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the American Petroleum Institute (API), stated, “Today we’re taking steps to challenge the Department of the Interior’s unjustified actions to further restrict American energy access in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The Interior Department has not yet provided a response to the lawsuit.
The revised lease terms eliminated over 6 million acres originally intended for the auction and imposed new requirements on vessel operators. These stipulations include maintaining vigilant watch for the whales and adhering to speed limits within the whale’s habitat.
API contends that these changes are unwarranted and unlawful.
The adjustments are a result of an agreement reached earlier this month between federal agencies and environmental organizations that had filed a lawsuit in 2020. The lawsuit alleged that the government had failed to implement sufficient safeguards for the whales. This legal case is currently on hold.
The upcoming Lease Sale 261 is scheduled for September 27, offering approximately 12,395 blocks across around 67 million acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico’s Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas.