Interior finalizes Final 5 Years of offshore drilling

Just days before Lease Sale 261, where 73 million-acres are up for sale on the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Interior finalized the Biden Administration's Final Five Year Plan for leases for offshore oil and gas drilling.  The plan offers three new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Department of Interior’s finalization of the plan also comes after a massive oil spill was discovered off Louisiana's coast last month. The Coast Guard said that this spill could be responsible for releasing up to 1.1 million gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. An oil spill of this size threatens the health of the local communities, the surrounding environment, and wildlife. 

While the final plan scales back from the 11 sales originally proposed to three and spares Alaska,  the plan is a step backward from the climate and justice goals the administration has set and for environmental justice communities across the Gulf South, who are already experiencing the disproportionate impact of fossil fuel extraction across the region. 

For months, a strong coalition of frontline and national environmental, business, and religious groups have advocated for no new leases in the Final Five-Year Plan due to the adverse impacts offshore drilling has on coastal communities, wildlife, and our climate. This announcement–coming on the heels of the new White House Ocean Justice Strategy–represents a setback and directly undermines President Biden’s climate and environmental justice commitments. 

Any new fossil fuel production is an unacceptable risk to our communities, health, and climate. Following the release of the final Five Year Plan, we must: 

• Oppose any new lease sales with social media pushes

• Demonstrate our disappointment toward the Biden administration’s decision

• Amplify local and frontline voices