Ian Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of the Interior will hold an offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, less than one month since a significant oil spill in the Gulf. It is the second lease sale the Biden Administration has held in 2023, and it is the last scheduled sale until 2025, under the recently finalized five-year plan for offshore drilling.
The lease sale has been extremely controversial, given Biden’s 2020 campaign pledge to end oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, and this particular sale’s potential negative impact on the critically endangered Rice’s whale. The sale originally included baseline protections for the whale species, which may number less than 100 globally. However, the oil industry sued to strip those protective measures.
In response, Athan Manuel, Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program director, released the following statement:
“Each additional oil and gas lease sale makes it harder to achieve the ambitious goals we need to achieve to stave off climate catastrophe. 2023 will likely be the hottest year on record. At this critical moment, we should be expanding clean energy, not locking ourselves into fossil fuel for decades.
“We once again call on the Biden Administration to take the bold action we need and end new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.