03.01.22

Chair Grijalva Praises Biden Administration for Accepting Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale Court Decision

Washington, D.C. – Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today issued the following statement on the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement that it will not appeal the Jan. 27 federal court decision to strike down Lease Sale 257, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 80-million-acre lease sale held in the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 17. In the January ruling, the U.S. District Court judge eviscerated the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s environmental assessment for the sale, criticizing it for using discredited, Trump-era fossil fuel industry arguments, failing to include foreign oil and gas consumption in emissions estimates, and neglecting the obligation to examine climate impacts of new oil and gas leasing.

“After this disastrous lease sale was rightfully revoked, the Biden administration had a clear choice to make,” Chair Grijalva said. “Would they appeal the decision and continue to defend the previous administration’s climate denialism and massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry? Or would they accept the ruling, follow federal environmental law, and seize this rare opportunity to realign the Interior Department’s offshore leasing program with climate science? Thankfully, the administration made the right decision.

Now, before putting a single acre of our public waters back up for sale, the Interior Department must put forth a new environmental assessment that accounts for the impacts of continued offshore drilling on the accelerating climate crisis. I’m confident that an accurate environmental assessment will find that continued leasing is incompatible with climate science, with federal law, and with President Biden’s own ambitions emissions goals.”

Lease Sale 257 was the nation’s largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in history. Chair Grijalva, along with subcommittee chairs Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif), filed an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs in this case this past December.

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