
Associate Press copy is provided via The Canadian Press

FILE – A rig and supply vessel are pictured in the Gulf of Mexico, off the cost of Louisiana, April 10, 2011. The Biden administration’s plan to protect an endangered species of whale by scaling back an auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico is being challenged by the oil industry. The conflicting federal lawsuits — one filed Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in southwest Louisiana by oil interests, the other announced Friday, Aug. 25, in Washington by the organization Earthjustice — focus on a planned sale of oil and gas leases set for Sept. 27 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Gerald Herbert
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan to protect an endangered species of whale by scaling back an auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico is being challenged by the oil industry, even as environmentalists go to court to stop the lease sale altogether.
The conflicting federal lawsuits, one filed Thursday in Louisiana by oil interests, the other announced Friday in Washington by the organization Earthjustice, focus on a planned sale of oil and gas leases set for Sept. 27 in New Orleans.
As originally proposed in March, the sale was to cover more than 73 million acres. That area was reduced to 67 million acres this week when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced final plans for the sale.
The revision, which also includes new speed limits and requirements for personnel on industry vessels, dovetails with measures announced by the administration on Monday to protect the endangered Rice’s whale in the Gulf. The adoption of those measures is part of an agreement the administration reached last month with environmentalists in efforts to settle a whale-protection lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland.
Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute and the state of Louisiana sued in a federal court in southwestern Louisiana Thursday night. They seek to reverse the cut in acreage and block the inclusion of the whale-protecting measures in the lease sale provisions.
Their lawsuit claims the administration’s actions violate provisions of a 2022 measure, labeled the Inflation Reduction Act, that provided broad incentives for clean energy, along with creating new drilling opportunities in the Gulf. They also said the changes after the initial lease sale was proposed in March violate federal law because they were adopted arbitrarily, without sufficient explanation of why they are needed.
While the industry seeks to keep the lease sale on schedule for Sept. 27 in its lawsuit, Earthjustice and several other environmental organizations seek to halt it.
In a news release, the organizations say the lease sale violates the National Environmental Policy. They say the administration failed to account for health threats to Gulf Coast communities near oil refineries and didn’t adequately the effects of new fossil fuel development on the climate.
“Once again, the Biden Administration has fallen short of the federal law by neglecting to consider the impact of this massive oil sale on Gulf communities and the climate,” Earthjustice attorney George Torgun said in an emailed statement.
Kevin Mcgill, The Associated Press
- 0015 Latus Viro0015 Latus Viro
- 0054 SIMSA Energy Forum0054 SIMSA Energy Forum
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
- 0052 Predator Inspections0052 Predator Inspections
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0043 ALX ten sizes0043 ALX ten sizes
- 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0004 Royal Helium PO Ad 02
- 9001
- 0002