#Biden administration moves ahead with massive Gulf of Mexico drilling auction, weeks after approving Willow Project

I am sure "progressives" in US, still call him the "greenest president in US modern history".

A few weeks after allowing the controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska to go forward, the Biden administration is auctioning off more than 73 million acres of waters in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling.

It could be the first Gulf of Mexico lease sale under the Biden administration that actually results in new drilling, after previous auctions were embroiled in legal challenges and delays.

On Wednesday, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a lease sale for an area that’s more than double the size of the Willow Project in acreage. The administration was forced to hold the sale after Joe Manchin added it to the Inflation Reduction Act, the major climate and energy bill that President Joe Biden signed last year.

Of the 73 million acres offered by the Biden administration, companies signaled interest in bidding on 1.6 million acres, according to federal data posted Tuesday night.

Environmental groups have already filed a lawsuit to try to stop the lease sale, saying Interior’s environmental analysis is flawed. They also take issue with the size and scope of sale.

#Environment #OffShoreDrilling #FossileFuel #GulfOfMexico #Alaska #Politics #ClimateChange
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/29/politics/gulf-of-mexico-drilling-lease-sale-biden-climate/index.html