Photo courtesy of the US GAO
On January 28 the D.C. District Court invalidated the Department of Interior's decision to offer 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing, marking a pivotal victory in the fight to defend Gulf communities and the planet from the worsening climate crisis. The Court held that Interior failed to accurately disclose and consider the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the lease sale, violating a bedrock environmental law.
“This is a victory for all Gulf communities impacted by the onshore pollution from offshore drilling in the Gulf,” said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of Healthy Gulf. “Today, we can look forward to the day when we stop selling off our public waters for pennies on the dollar when a just transition to a clean energy future is critical to our very survival. Now, the Gulf can be seen as a viable field for offshore wind energy that will power our future.”
On August 31, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on behalf of Healthy Gulf, Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and Friends of the Earth following the notice of lease sale 257. The lawsuit argued that the 2017 environmental analysis that the Biden administration relied on to hold the sale is fatally flawed. The sale was not only counter to the administration’s pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent to 52 percent by 2030 and meet our climate commitments, but it is illegal and based on previously debunked environmental analysis.
The D.C. district court decision holds Interior accountable for grossly underestimating the climate impacts and risks to Gulf communities before deciding to hold the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. This ruling ensures our waters and coasts will be protected from additional harmful drilling and eventual spills in the Gulf, where the fossil fuel industry is already sitting on 8 million acres of leases on public waters.
"The Biden administration's failure to adequately evaluate the climate impacts of this massive lease sale wasn't just out of step with their stated commitment to climate action, it was also illegal,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Devorah Ancel. “We are glad that the court has held them accountable for this reckless action, and we will continue to fight to protect Gulf Coast communities from the dangers of offshore drilling and climate chaos."
A clean energy transition is essential for Gulf communities and our increasingly warming planet. Instead of expanding harmful drilling, we must meet this once-in-a-lifetime moment to protect our public lands and waters and move away from our reliance on fossil fuels.