Court Postpones Gulf Oil Lease Sale Amid Litigation Over Endangered Whale Protections

Sale delay results from oil firms and Louisiana state suing over the reduced acreage and new safety regulations, claiming they infringe on a 2022 climate law that incentivizes clean energy and promotes new drilling opportunities in the Gulf.

The federal sale of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases, originally scheduled for November 8, 2023, has been postponed by a federal appeals court due to ongoing litigation involving protections for the endangered Rice's whale.
In an attempt to protect this endangered species, the Biden administration had reduced the area available for leases from 73 million acres to 67 million acres, implemented speed limits, and imposed personnel requirements on industry vessels in certain areas.
Oil and gas companies, including Chevron and Shell Offshore, along with the American Petroleum Institute and the state of Louisiana, filed a lawsuit against these changes, arguing they breached provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which advocates for clean energy and promotes new drilling opportunities in the Gulf.
The original changes made by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) were part of a settlement agreement reached with environmentalists to resolve a lawsuit filed to protect the Rice's whale.
The postponement comes amid criticism from Senate members, who claim the administration has been too slow to implement the act's required lease sales, with some accusing it of attempting to suppress future offshore lease sales.