A U.S. federal judge has blocked the sale of offshore oil and gas drilling leases across some 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that the environmental review that underpinned the sale was flawed.
The analysis that Contreras objected to found that the climate impact would actually be worse if the leases went unsold because it would lead to a boost in production by foreign oil companies that don’t meet the same high standards as U.S. firms.
Environmental groups sued over the lease sale, challenging the calculations and arguing that “this counterintuitive conclusion is the result of certain erroneous assumptions,” wrote Contreras, calling the assessment an “error” and a “serious failing.”
“By excluding foreign consumption from its emissions analysis, BOEM reached a conclusion that was in direct tension with—if not completely contradictory to—its own finding in the very same report that the No Action Alternative would result in a significant decrease in foreign consumption,” the judge wrote.
“Barreling full-steam ahead with blinders on was simply not a reasonable action for BOEM to have taken here,” he added.
Brettny Hardy, a senior attorney for Earthjustice, one of the groups that challenged the sale, expressed satisfaction with the ruling.
“This administration must meet this critical moment and honor the campaign promises President Biden made by stopping offshore leasing once and for all,'' Hardy added.
During his campaign, President Joe Biden vowed to end federal oil and gas drilling to fight climate change, but efforts to suspend new auctions failed after Gulf Coast states sued.
The offshore drilling industry expressed opposition to Contreras’ ruling.
“Uncertainty around the future of the U.S. federal offshore leasing program may only strengthen the geopolitical influence of higher emitting—and adversarial—nations, such as Russia,” he added.
