The Five-Year Program, which Interior approved on December 14, sets up three massive oil-and-gas auctions through 2029. Interior had originally proposed up to 11 offshore sales, eventually settling on three.

The oil industry lawsuit comes on the heels of another lawsuit from the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Shell, and the State of Louisiana to remove baseline protections for the critically endangered Rice’s whale in a December Gulf oil auction. It also follows recent moves by the industry to double down on fossil fuel development in the U.S., despite national and international commitments to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address the climate crisis. In November, more than one million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, another major incident and predictable consequence of offshore oil-and-gas development.

Meanwhile, environmental groups and Gulf-based organizations filed a legal challenge of their own today to hold the Interior Department accountable for failing to adequately consider the public health impacts on frontline communities in its final Five-Year Program. While the program does consider the climate impact of continued oil-and-gas leasing, Interior failed to assess the environmental justice effects of continued offshore fossil fuel development – even after determining that this disparity is a critical issue directly linked to the program. Gulf coast residents already suffer disproportionate health burdens due to life-threatening, toxic industrial pollution stemming from federal offshore oil-and-gas leasing, and these harms will be extended with approval for future leasing. Interior also failed to properly evaluate the impacts of oil-and-gas leasing on endangered species, particularly how new leasing would further imperil the critically endangered Rice’s whale, one of the world’s most endangered marine species.

“Fossil fuel development is untenable if we want a livable future,” said Earthjustice attorney Brettny Hardy. “The oil and gas industry is already sitting on nine million acres of undeveloped leases. They certainly are not entitled to more. Although we acknowledge the government’s focus on climate impacts with the release of this five-year offshore leasing plan, we are taking legal action today because we are concerned about how it will jeopardize the health of overburdened communities.”

“In Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast, the stakes are high: More fossil fuels means more carbon emissions, which means more intense hurricanes hitting the inadequately guarded petrochemical infrastructure that is already in place,” said Kristen Schlemmer, Legal Director & Waterkeeper for Bayou City Waterkeeper in Houston. “It is time for us to transition away from these industries, not enable further drilling in the years to come.”

“Healthy Gulf is critical of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s recent Five-Year Plan for oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Andrew Whitehurst, water program director for Healthy Gulf. “We highlighted errors and deficiencies in the agency’s analysis of harmful impacts that will further burden Gulf communities. We join as plaintiffs here to ask a federal court to review BOEM’s plan, and force the agency to improve it.”

“We are not surprised by this industry challenge, given its track record of suing every time the Biden Administration makes any attempt to break free from fossil fuels,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director for Friends of the Earth. “While the Five-Year Program does offer a record-low number of sales and greater focus on climate change, unfortunately it continues to unlawfully overlook many significant harms of the offshore drilling industry. Our lawsuit is another stand for the Gulf ecosystem, its nearby communities and all wildlife that continue to suffer at the hands of Big Oil.”

“The new 5-year offshore drilling plan was informed by nearly a million public comments against oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters. The industry’s unwarranted lawsuit belies the fact that new offshore drilling is broadly unpopular and is not needed to meet our nation’s energy needs. Moreover, new offshore drilling will increase carbon pollution and undermine U.S. and global efforts to address climate change, ” said Pete Stauffer, Ocean Protection Manager, Surfrider Foundation.

“Central and western Gulf communities are on the frontlines of offshore drilling disasters, extraction-related pollution, and the climate change fossil fuels are driving,” said Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program director Athan Manuel. “The Biden Administration finalized a five year plan for offshore fossil fuel development that proposes three additional lease sales, but even that new leasing isn’t enough for these corporations. We will continue to fight to protect our communities and climate from the dangers of offshore drilling.”

“Industry’s lawsuit is unfounded and unwarranted,” said Brad Sewell, director of the oceans program at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “This plan still calls for more leasing in the Gulf, which is the last thing we need and in the last place we need it. Gulf waters have never been hotter. Rising seas are swamping the Gulf coast. It’s time to break, not deepen, our dependence on the very fossil fuels that are driving the climate and biodiversity crises. It’s time to make federal ocean policy part of the climate fix, not the problem. Reducing offshore drilling that exposes oceans, marine life and coastal communities to catastrophic risk and ongoing harm is the answer.”

The United States Geological Survey estimates that drilling on public land and in federal waters is responsible for almost a quarter of the greenhouse gases generated by the United States that are warming the planet. The industry currently has 9,000 unused leases or over 8 million acres of public water, and any further expansion of the fossil fuel industry will escalate the climate crisis, said Joanie Steinhaus, Ocean Program Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network.

“We already know that when companies drill, they spill,” said Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon. “While our nation is facing a climate crisis, and coastal communities continue to recover from catastrophic oil spills, the oil industry selfishly wants to open up even more of our oceans for drilling. This comes even though oil and gas companies are already holding over 9 million acres of unused leases. Oceana is ready to stand up to the oil industry to keep it from further ravaging our oceans and our most vulnerable communities. Oceana will fight for those communities, and the oceans that surround them, to stop this deadly cycle of drilling and spilling.”

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

The post Environmental, Gulf Groups React to API Lawsuit Targeting Five-Year Drilling Plan; Seek Stronger Protections for Gulf of Mexico appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

JUNEAU (ÁAKʼW ḴWÁAN TERRITORY) — A broad coalition of Alaska Native Tribes, commercial fishers, small tourism businesses, conservation groups, and other forest advocates are seeking to defend last year’s reinstatement of National Roadless Rule protections across the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska by intervening in several legal challenges opposing the rule.

The coalition of Tribes and forest advocates, represented by Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is intervening to prevent industrial logging and damaging roadbuilding on over 9 million mostly undeveloped acres within the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest.

When the Roadless Rule was reinstated last January on the Tongass National Forest by the U.S. Forest Service, the decision was widely celebrated by Tribal Nations in Southeast Alaska, across Alaska and nationally. The reinstatement decision recognized the need to preserve the Tongass’ roadless areas to protect cultural uses, enhance carbon storage, and conserve biodiversity, and noted strong and uniform support for the rule among Southeast Alaska Tribal Nations.

Despite the widespread popularity of Forest Service’s decision, the State of Alaska, two power companies and a coalition of business and industry supporters filed three separate lawsuits in September asking a federal court in Alaska to overturn the 2023 protections in favor of the 2020 Trump-era Roadless Rule excluding the Tongass.

Under the current Roadless Rule protections, sustainable economies that center the priorities of Tribes and local communities are taking root and flourishing. Overturning these protections would roll back progress toward a more sustainable future and bring back the threat of large-scale logging, which is why 16 Tribes, businesses, fishing, and conservation groups are intervening in the lawsuits today to uphold the rule.

The rule, which recognizes that Southeast Alaska’s future depends on sustainable uses of the forest, is intended to prevent large-scale industrial logging like clear cutting and to conserve the region’s old-growth forests. Old-growth forests are central to the cultures, traditions and lifeways of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, essential for climate protection and important for many purposes to many people, communities and businesses who live on or near the forest.

While the Roadless Rule prohibits logging and logging roads, it allows for other development projects, including hard rock mines, federal-aid highways, utility lines, hydropower projects and other energy projects.

The following statements were issued in response to today’s filing.

Joel Jackson, President, Organized Village of Kake:

“The Roadless Rule has helped protect the Tongass National from harmful logging and road building. Without old growth timber, we lose an important carbon sink and habitat essential to the survival of salmon, people and many other species. The Tongass Roadless Rule is important to everyone – to our way of life and for streams, salmon, deer, and all the forest animals and plants.”

Norman Skan, President, Ketchikan Indian Community:

“The Roadless Rule is beneficial and allows our Tribe and community to thrive. Ketchikan Indian Community is committed to continue working with our tribal neighbors and other stakeholders on this critically important issue.”

Nathan Moulton, Tribal Administrator, Hoonah Indian Association:

“Our lifestyle, culture and foods are linked in critical and dynamic ways to the Tongass National Forest, and so are the economies that power our communities. The Roadless Rule reduces the risk of long-term exploitation of critical old-growth forests and promotes community vibrancy, Alaska Native cultures and food security. The Roadless Rule maximizes the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our Tribe and our region and must not be overturned.”

Mike Jones, President, Organized Village of Kasaan:

“The Roadless Rule has worked well for our Tribe and our community by helping to protect customary and traditional uses of our lands and waters, and the fish, wildlife, trees and plants. This helps us honor our ancestors and provide for current and future generations. The Roadless Rule must continue to be upheld across the Tongass National Forest.”

Wanda Culp (Tlingit), Tongass Hub Regional Coordinator, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN):

“The Tongass Forest is home to the ancient Tlingit and Haida Indigenous Nations.  It is where my ancestry originates, my bloodline is Indigenous to this land, its DNA is my DNA. The air we breathe, the water we depend on, the land we live upon, all pristine. This is why we need to ensure the Roadless Rule stays in place—to protect the forest from harmful interests and to ensure a liveable future for all generations.”

Judy Daxootsu Ramos (Tlingit from Yaakwdáat Kwáan (Yakutat, Alaska), Raven moiety, Kwáashk’ikwáan Clan) Board Co-Chair, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council:

“Southeast Alaska is the traditional homeland to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people and has been for thousands of years, but in the last 200 years, we’ve seen tremendous changes — I’ve seen it change drastically in my lifetime — the Roadless Rule is necessary to protect and respect our traditional homelands.”

Linda Behnken, commercial fisher and Executive Director, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association:

“The Roadless Rule is essential for protecting the remaining intact ecosystems within the Tongass National Forest for generations to come. It would be short-sighted and irresponsible to roll back these protections that support critical habitat for fish and wildlife, sustainable fisheries, and coastal fishing communities, especially as we endure threats posed by climate change and ocean warming.”

Hunter McIntosh, president and executive director, The Boat Company:

“The Boat Company operates small cruise vessels and is part of a growing regional ecotourism economy focused on outdoor recreation and adventure tourism. Ecotours are trips where visitors learn about and admire nature in ways that contribute to conservation and the economic well-being of local communities. By managing roadless areas for outdoor recreation, local communities benefit, and visitors emerge refreshed by the well-known physical and emotional benefits of forest recreation. By preserving intact forests, policies such as the Roadless Rule provide economic benefits that outweigh industrial, extractive uses and protect important ecosystem service values such as carbon storage and sequestration, and fisheries and wildlife.”

Captain Dan Blanchard, owner and CEO, Uncruise Adventures:

“Each year UnCruise Adventures provide hundreds of visitors with scenic views of southeast Alaska coastlines, fjords and forests, and remote recreation experiences such as hiking, kayaking, beach combing and wildlife viewing. I cannot understate the importance of inventoried roadless areas to the ecotour economy.  Our clients expect to see “wild” Alaska and prefer natural landscapes that support healthy and iconic wildlife species such as bears or bald eagles.  Clearcutting and timber road construction in inventoried roadless areas will force us to divert our travel routes and reduce shore-based activities to avoid seeing or being around clearcuts.  These changes would negatively affect Southeast Alaska’s reputation as an uncrowded and high-quality adventure travel destination free from industrial activities.”

Karlin Itchoak, senior regional director for Alaska, The Wilderness Society:

“Reinstating the Roadless Rule was a significant and long-awaited victory for the Tongass and it was a direct result of Tribes and Indigenous peoples of Southeast Alaska demanding the protections of their ancestral homeland. Attempts to roll back these protections disregard their undying efforts and pose significant threats to the communities that depend on this sustainable forest, as well as the wildlife and sacred old-growth forest now protected from harmful development. We stand in solidarity with local Alaska Native leaders in demanding that the Roadless Rule holds firm and the voices of Southeast Alaska are heard to ensure that the Tongass rainforest is protected for the preservation of culture and future generations to come.”

Andy Moderow, senior director of policy, Alaska Wilderness League:

“The Roadless Rule is common sense policy that puts people and public lands first. Reinstating those protections in the Tongass National Forest is at the foundation of efforts to build a sustainable future for Southeast Alaska.  It’s also a flexible rule, that allows for community access, hydropower infrastructure, utility connectors, and other projects when they serve a legitimate public interest.  We will keep defending this rule whenever it is attacked, so that future generations can count on the Tongass National Forest just like we can today.”

Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska Program director, Defenders of Wildlife:

“Protecting the Tongass National Forest is an important step in recognizing the role our forests play in fighting the biodiversity and climate crises. Tongass Roadless areas protect rare intact old-growth forest habitat for wildlife and help address climate change by sequestering carbon. Defenders will not waver in our support for protecting this irreplaceable habitat.”

Cooper Freeman, Alaska Representative, Center for Biological Diversity:

“I’m outraged the Dunleavy administration is trying to open up more logging in the country’s largest forest carbon sink in the midst of the climate and extinction crises. Protecting more than half the Tongass is one of the best ways we can preserve this irreplaceable old-growth forest for future generations. We’ll do everything we can to make sure the spectacular Tongass is protected.”

Hallie Templeton, legal director, Friends of the Earth:

“As the country’s largest national forest and carbon sink, protecting the Tongass is essential for local communities and for our global battle against climate change. This is one of our last remaining truly wild places, and it demands ultimate protection from corporate interests. We are proud to continue fighting alongside our tribal, local business, fishing, and conservation partners to ensure that the Tongass and its natural abundance remain off limits to industrial development.”

Background

Situated in the southeast corner of Alaska, the Tongass is a temperate rainforest and the ancestral homeland of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. The islands, fjords, glaciers, and muskegs that make up the nation’s largest national forest provide some of the most rare and intact ecosystems in the world, providing critical habitat for wildlife including salmon, brown and black bears, bald eagles, flying squirrels, goshawks, and Sitka black-tailed deer.

These lands are integral to the ways-of-life of Alaska Native people in the region, who depend on roadless areas for hunting, fishing, gathering traditional medicines, and cultural uses. In addition, the region supports a thriving tourism industry and a local, sustainable, commercial fishing industry. Both industries depend on the forest’s intact ecosystem. The Tongass also serves as the country’s largest forest carbon sink, making its protection critical for U.S. efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to set a global example.

Originally adopted in 2001, the Roadless Rule is one of the most significant conservation measures adopted to protect the national forests of the United States. Applicable nationwide, it prohibits industrial logging and most roadbuilding in intact areas of the national forest system, with a few exceptions. Alaska’s Tongass National Forest was protected under the national rule in 2001 but was exempted first under the Bush administration and later under the Trump Administration. During the recent Trump-era rollback in 2020, the public submitted nearly half a million comments. Of those, 96% advocated for keeping Roadless Rule protections in place for the Tongass, and only 1% supported the Trump exemption.

In January 2023, in a much-celebrated decision, the Biden administration reinstated the Roadless Rule for the Tongass, protecting the forest once again from logging and roadbuilding.

The following Tribes and groups, represented by Earthjustice and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), are intervening to protect the Roadless Rule: Organized Village of Kake, Hoonah Indian Association, Ketchikan Indian Community, Organized Village of Kasaan, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, The Boat Company, Uncruise, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Alaska Wilderness League, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the Wilderness Society and NRDC.

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

The post Alaska Native Tribes, Southeast Alaska Businesses and Forest Advocates Defend Tongass National Forest’s Roadless Rule appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

The lawsuit was brought by Earthjustice on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace USA, with the Center for Biological Diversity and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The groups plan to file an appeal of the ruling to the Ninth Circuit. Environmental groups argue Interior’s approval failed to satisfy federal legal requirements. The court also ruled today on a second lawsuit, filed by Trustees for Alaska, challenging Willow on behalf of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and others.

The massive oil project would release carbon-dioxide emissions equivalent to that of driving two million extra cars for the next 30 years, while causing devastating harm to the environment, Arctic wildlife, and nearby people who depend on the land for subsistence.

Ahead of Interior’s approval of Willow, ConocoPhillips, the company behind the project, claimed to investors that the initiative would become the “next great Alaska hub” that could open as much as three billion additional barrels of oil in nearby prospects that can only be accessed with Willow infrastructure in place.

Willow sparked fierce opposition from millions, including a youth climate movement and leadership from the nearby village of Nuiqsut. Opponents expressed concerns that Willow significantly and symbolically undermined U.S. national climate goals of slashing carbon emissions 50 percent by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050.

Groups issued the following statements:

“While today’s ruling is disappointing, we are entirely confident in our claims, and plan to appeal to the higher court,” said Erik Grafe, Deputy Managing Attorney in Earthjustice’s Alaska regional office. “Beyond the illegality of Willow’s approval, Interior’s decision to greenlight the project in the first place moved us in the opposite direction of our national climate goals in the face of the worsening climate crisis.”

“We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision, which will have tragic consequences for Arctic communities, wildlife, and our planet as a whole,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director at Friends of the Earth. “But the fight is far from over. We maintain confidence in our legal claims that Interior has unlawfully ignored the significant environmental harms stemming from Willow. We won’t stop until this climate disaster of a project is dead once and for all.”

“Although we are disappointed in today’s ruling, we will never stop fighting to protect Alaskan wildlife and landscapes from the Biden administration’s wrongheaded and unlawful decision to approve the Willow project,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska program director at Defenders of Wildlife. “The Willow project is wholly incompatible with a clean, just energy future that protects polar bears, people, and the planet.”

Tim Donaghy, Research Manager at Greenpeace USA, said: “The science is crystal clear: we cannot afford any new oil and gas projects – much less a monster project like Willow – if we want to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Today’s decision is a blow to everyone who spoke up and opposed this reckless project. The leadership of the Biden Administration is now more vital than ever. We call on President Biden to stop approving these disastrous projects that will only drive us further into climate catastrophe.”

“This is a really sad decision for Arctic wildlife and the climate,” said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Willow project poses a clear threat to people and ecosystems, but the Biden administration approved this carbon bomb without properly accounting for that potential damage. Willow will add massive fossil-fuel pollution to the atmosphere in the midst of a climate emergency and disrupt habitat for countless Arctic animals. We’ll do everything in our power to keep fighting this nonsensical harmful project.” 

“As the public has shown in its fierce outcry against Willow, business as usual for the fossil fuel industry is untenable in the midst of a warming planet,” said Bobby McEnaney, director of the dirty energy project at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Willow, which by design requires keeping the melting Arctic tundra cool just to enable drilling, symbolizes the absurdity and recklessness of expanded drilling in the Arctic. We’ll continue to urge Interior to take proactive, meaningful steps to avoid fossil fuel induced climate disaster in the Arctic.” 

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

The post Alaska District Court Rules Willow Oil Project Can Proceed; Conservation Groups Plan To File Appeal appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

The U.S. Department of the Interior released its final Five-Year Plan today, offering three lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.The final plan scales back from the eleven sales originally proposed to three and spares Alaska. But the plan is a step backwards from the climate 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. This decision comes after over a year of advocacy in which the Protect All Our Coasts coalition has consistently stood together in their call for “No New Leases” in the final Five-Year Plan. 

Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Biden administration could have finalized a Five-Year Plan with no new leases for offshore drilling. Offering three lease sales is incompatible with reaching President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions by 50-52% by 2030, undermines domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and runs counter to commitments to Gulf communities that already bear the brunt of oil, gas, and petrochemical buildout.  

In response to the release of the Department of Interior’s Five-Year Plan, these organizations have released the following statements:

Local Organizations 

“Given that there are over 9,000 leases, yet to be explored or tapped into, it makes no sense that the Biden administration would open up additional leases, placing the environment and the lives of people in serious jeopardy in the Gulf South. Folks in Port Arthur, TX die daily from cancer, respiratory, heart, and kidney disease from the very pollution that would come from more leases and drilling,” said John Beard, Founder, President, and Executive Director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network. “If Biden is to truly be the environmental president, he should stop any further leasing and all forms of the Petrochemical build out, call for a climate emergency, and jumpstart the transition to clean green, renewable energy, and lift the toxic pollution from overburdened communities. We say enough is enough. We refuse to be sacrificed. We reject the five year plan, and demand that President Biden treat us like living people, not pawns in a Petrochemical power-play for profits at the expense of our lives, health, and futures.” 

“Our community stands with others throughout the Gulf South that condemn the expansion of offshore drilling. The Biden Administration’s decision contradicts promises of environmental stewardship and places profit over the well-being of our communities and plane,” said Armon Alex, Co-Founder of the Gulf of Mexico Youth Climate Summit. “ It’s imperative that we prioritize climate action and the protection of vulnerable frontline communities. Let us unite to end new offshore drilling and pave the way towards a clean, just, and sustainable energy future.”

“We’re disappointed the Biden Administration did not follow through on a promise of no new leasing, and instead, the residents of the Gulf of Mexico are having their resources sold off for bargain prices once again,” said Christian Wagley, coastal organizer at Healthy Gulf. “These new leases lock us into continued dependence on extractive fossil fuels, instead of moving towards a clean and just energy economy that Americans not only want but is a necessity to stave off climate disaster. Furthermore, Gulf communities are tired of being a sacrifice zone, experiencing the effects of climate change first while other regions remain protected from new leases.”

“While we would love to celebrate the news of historically few lease sales, the earth does not recognize political ‘victories,’” said Kendall Dix, national policy director at Taproot Earth. “South Louisiana is currently facing a drinking water crisis right now that is a consequence of salt water intrusion and the climate crisis. As the head of the United Nations and has said, continued fossils fuel development is incompatible with human survival. We need to transition to justly sourced renewable energy that’s democratically managed and accountable to frontline communities as quickly as possible.”

National Organizations 

“The Surfrider Foundation is deeply disappointed that the Biden administration plans to expand offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters,” said Dr. Chad Nelsen, CEO of the Surfrider Foundation. “New leases in the 5-year drilling plan will damage our coastlines and communities, while further exacerbating the climate change crisis. We call on the President and Congress to take decisive action to end new offshore drilling forever. This includes canceling new lease sales in the next 5-year plan and passing legislation to permanently protect U.S. coasts from new oil drilling. It’s high time that our federal leaders stop approving new fossil fuel development that will worsen climate change.” 

“Biden has once again chosen Big Oil profits over what’s right for the climate and Gulf communities,” said Raena Garcia, senior fossil fuels and lands campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “Having squandered this crucial moment to protect our oceans, it’s no wonder he was sidelined at last week’s UN Climate Ambition Summit. No law, not even the Inflation Reduction Act, mandates new drilling, and we are exploring all available strategies in response to BOEM’s deeply disappointing and potentially unlawful move.”

“I feel disgusted and incredibly let down by Biden’s offshore drilling plan. It piles more harm on already-struggling ecosystems, endangered species and the global climate,” said Brady Bradshaw, senior oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need Biden to commit to a fossil fuel phaseout, but actions like this condemn us to oil spills, climate disasters and decades of toxic harm to communities and wildlife.”

“New fossil fuel development is incompatible with the scale of the climate crisis we face. The Biden Administration’s continued leasing for offshore drilling sacrifices the Gulf South communities that have been subjected to living in the most polluted areas of the nation for decades,” said Zero Hour Policy Director Aaditi Lele. “Decisions like these lock us into decades of oil spills, pollution, and destruction at the hands of Big Oil. The President and Congress must act to phase out all fossil fuels on public lands and waters.”

“This is the last thing we need – and the last place we need it. Gulf waters have never been hotter. Rising seas are swamping the Gulf coast. Louisiana is suffering some of the worst heat, drought and wildfires in the state’s history,” said Manish Bapna, President and CEO of the NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council).“The message from the Gulf is clear. It’s time to break, not deepen, our dependence on the fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis. It’s time to make federal ocean waters part of the climate fix, not the problem. It’s time to reduce, not increase, offshore drilling that exposes oceans, marine life and coastal communities to catastrophic risk and ongoing harm. It’s time to end the unconscionable health risks that producing, refining and exporting Gulf fuels inflicts on local communities.This plan calls for fewer new offshore leases than previous federal five-year plans. But let’s be clear: oil and gas companies already hold leases to enough of the Gulf of Mexico to cover half the state of Indiana – and to produce oil and gas at current rates for decades. Exposing even more of the Gulf to the risk of a BP-style blowout makes no sense.”

Oceana Vice President for the United States, Beth Lowell, said:

“By failing to end new offshore drilling, President Biden missed an easy opportunity to do the right thing and deliver on climate for the American people. This decision is beyond disappointing, as Americans face the impacts of the growing climate crisis through more frequent and intense fires, droughts, hurricanes, and floods. President Biden is unfortunately showing the world that it’s okay to continue to prioritize polluters over real climate solutions. Expanding dirty and dangerous offshore drilling only exacerbates the climate catastrophe that is already at our doorstep. Unfortunately, it’s our coastal communities who will bear the immediate impact of this shortsighted decision. 

Every new drilling lease is a disaster waiting to happen. We know when companies drill, they spill, and offshore disasters impact communities, people, and businesses who rely upon a healthy ocean. Offshore drilling also fuels the climate crisis that will impact every single person living in the United States, but it will be low-income and marginalized groups who are disproportionately impacted. We can’t accept the consequences from President Biden’s failure to act. Congress must immediately reject this proposal during the review period and prevent all new leases on federal waters.”

“A single new lease sale for offshore oil and gas exploration is one too many,” said Sarah Winter Whelan, Executive Director of the Healthy Ocean Coalition. “Communities around the country are already dealing with exacerbating impacts from climate disruption caused by our reliance on fossil fuels. Any increase in our dependence on fossil fuels just bakes in greater impacts to humanity. In addition, the ocean, which absorbs 90% of the heat from our warming planet and a third of the carbon dioxide released into the air, should be seen and treated as a climate solution, not a source for further climate disaster. We call on the Biden Administration and Congress to stop handing our future to Big Oil and focus solely on the just and equitable transition to renewable energy.”

“With this Five-Year Plan, President Biden has sent the message that there is a price tag on our oceans, on our and our grandchildren’s livable futures, on breathing clean air, and on public health. The very culprits of this generation-defining catastrophe, oil giants like Chevron, Exxon, and Shell, will now continue to enjoy the privilege of cashing in on the economic boon and environmental death sentence that is drilling into the ocean floor for the next five years – a time frame critical to preventing the most irreversible consequences of a rapidly heating planet,” said Rachel Carson Council President & CEO Bob Musil. “Scientists, the youth, and the general public agree that if we do not implement ‘immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors’ we will sacrifice our chance of preventing the passage of the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold in the next decade, virtually crystallizing a future of chaos.”

“The ocean offers powerful solutions to fight the climate crisis–drilling for oil and gas is not one of them,” said Jean Flemma, Director of Ocean Defense Initiative. “Ocean, climate, and environmental justice advocates nationwide have been clear that the time has come to stop selling our ocean–and our future–to Big Oil. Any new leasing will perpetuate fossil fuel energy production–at a time when we urgently need to reduce emissions–while unfairly burdening Gulf communities yet again. By scheduling the fewest number of offshore lease sales in history, the Administration has acknowledged the need to transition from dirty, dangerous offshore drilling toward a clean energy future. Now they need to turn that acknowledgment into reality, and end offshore drilling.” 

“While President Biden correctly only offered the smallest possible proposed leasing program, even one sale is one too many,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous. “Communities in the central and western Gulf are on the frontlines of climate change, offshore drilling disasters, and the pollution caused by extractive activities. Further leasing only furthers the threats to their homes, their health, and their future. At a time when we should be rapidly moving away from fossil fuels to meet our climate commitments and avert the worst effects of the climate crisis, issuing more oil and gas leases is the last thing we should be doing. Congress must fix these statutory mistakes and end new offshore drilling once and for all.”

“Sacrificing millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas extraction when scientists are clear that we must end fossil fuel expansion immediately is a gross denial of reality by Joe Biden in the face of climate catastrophe,” said Collin Rees, United States Program Manager at Oil Change International. “Doubling down on drilling is a direct violation of President Biden’s prior commitments and continues a concerning trend. Just last week, 75,000 people marched in the streets of New York urging an end to fossil fuels and the United States was blocked from attending the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit due to its dangerous plans to expand oil and gas. The United States is on track to expand fossil fuel production more than any other country by 2050, which is our most crucial window to limit the impacts of warming. Frontline communities, marine ecosystems, and our climate deserve a swift and just end to fossil fuels.”

Additional Information: 

• Overwhelmingly, voters support preventing new offshore oil and gas leases in the upcoming Five-Year Plan decision, according to recent public opinion research, conducted by Lake Research Partners in March of 2023. The poll found that most voters do not want to expand offshore drilling and instead favor a proposal to not schedule new offshore drilling by a net margin of 16 points. Additionally, two-thirds of voters said they would prefer the administration expand clean energy like wind and solar over offshore drilling for oil and gas. Both national and coastal-states results are available.
• Nearly 1 million people have urged the Biden administration in a new petition to reject new leasing for offshore drilling in the final Five-Year Plan. 

A broad and diverse group of people and organizations are united in calling for no new leases in the final Five-Year Program, including numerous U.S. Representatives, over 200 environmental and frontline organizations, 50 scientists, 28 youth organizations, and representatives of 60,000 coastal businesses and entrepreneurs.

Communications contacts: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org; Grace Nolan, grace@team-arc.com

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The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Turtle Island Restoration Network were granted intervention in the case to defend these protections. The groups, represented by Earthjustice, have appealed the ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will seek an emergency stay of the order.

The Interior Department announced in August that the offshore oil and gas sale would be held on September 27 and include 67.3 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico for auction. Interior determined that the sale would exclude about 6 million acres of important habitat for the Rice’s whale and attached a stipulation that restricts vessel speeds and transit to protect the whale from deadly vessel strikes — the result of a recent interim agreement that Earthjustice, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and the federal government reached in the U.S. District Court in Maryland.

However, the Louisiana district court incorrectly determined that Interior had not provided adequate notice of these provisions, despite the fact that several parties — including the Center — had specifically commented on the need for additional protections for the Rice’s whale. The district court also found that Interior had failed to justify the need for these basic measures to prevent the extinction of one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. 

“These baseline protections for the Rice’s whale are quite literally the least we could be doing to save the species from extinction,” said Earthjustice attorney Steve Mashuda. “Meanwhile, the government is still enabling the oil industry to bid on 67 million acres of the Gulf. These oil companies are looking at the full glass after one sip and calling it empty.”

“The oil and gas industry’s greed is astounding, and I’m heartbroken that oil executives won’t make even minor accommodations to protect a whale from going extinct,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The federal government is offering oil and gas companies more than 67 million additional acres of public waters for drilling, and it’s still not enough to satisfy Big Oil. The Gulf doesn’t belong to the industry. It belongs to the people and wildlife living there, and it’s time to start saying no to harmful drilling activities.”

“The federal government, and the industry, have a fundamental legal duty to protect endangered species,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Devorah Ancel. “The oil and gas industry’s shameless quest to remove critical protections for a whale that is on the brink of extinction because of oil and gas development is quite simply, unconscionable.”

“Once again, big oil wins and the marine environment suffers,” said Director of Oceans Joanie Steinhaus at Turtle Island Restoration Network. “The Rice’s whale is a species that is on the verge of extinction and this ruling takes away the minimum protection for this species. The Gulf of Mexico does not belong to the oil industry, it belongs to the people – and the federal government needs to step up and protect it.”

“The protections impacted by yesterday’s injunction are not only commonsense, but imperative for the continued existence of the Rice’s whale,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director for Friends of the Earth. “It is our hope and intention to ensure that the lower court’s ruling does not have a lasting impact on this imperiled species. The Rice’s whale is on the brink of extinction due to the very activities that the injunction greenlights. We must stop giving Big Oil carte blanche for business-as-usual activities.”

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 22-0746

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In March 2023, for example, the Biden Administration approved ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, undermining his climate commitments by instilling an enormous new carbon emission source that will cause irreparable harm to Alaska’s communities, environment, and wildlife. The approval was met with a lawsuit from Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups who vehemently opposed the project, citing it will add about 260 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere over the next 30 years, or the equivalent of an extra two million cars on the road per year. 

Raena Garcia, Senior Public Lands and Fossil Fuels Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, issued the following response: 

Today’s announcements, while appreciated, simply don’t go far enough to preserve our public lands. Lease sales like those in the ANWR that were put forth by the Trump Administration should have never happened in the first place. Small measures like the ones the Department of Interior put forward won’t erase President Biden’s incredibly disappointing climate record with respect to oil and gas leasing. If the Administration is truly committed to protecting our people and the planet, they will halt climate-destroying projects like Willow altogether.

COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org 

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Lease Sale 261, which the Biden administration canceled in 2021, is the last of three offshore oil and gas lease sales mandated under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Lease Sales 258 and 259, held in December 2022 and March 2023, were also revived by the IRA. Both of those lease sales were challenged in federal court for failing to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Today’s lawsuit challenges the upcoming lease sale for violations of NEPA because Interior did not consider the health threats to Gulf Coast communities living near oil refineries and other polluting drilling infrastructure. The department also failed to adequately consider the climate impacts from this massive new source of fossil fuel development. The lease sale could result in the production of more than 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years, resulting in over 370 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The department agreed to limit the leasing area to reduce the risk of driving the endangered Gulf of Mexico (Rice’s) whale to extinction. Scientists estimate there may be only 51 Gulf of Mexico whales left on Earth. While this is a welcome first step toward better protecting threatened marine life and ecosystems, far more must be done to curb the ecological harms done by offshore drilling. (Interior excluded this same habitat from wind leasing in the Gulf of Mexico.)

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia on behalf of Healthy Gulf, Bayou City Waterkeeper, Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club. It was filed against Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis, Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management following the final notice of lease sale 261.

In September, Interior is also expected to release its final proposed Five-Year Program (National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program) for offshore oil and gas leasing. The final plan, which lasts through 2028, could include as many as 11 new offshore lease sales, according to the proposed program. Holding 11 new fossil fuel auctions would sanction up to 70 years of additional fossil-fuel extraction with the potential to emit up to 3.5 billion tons of carbon pollution.

Earthjustice and its clients and partners released the following statements: 

“Once again, the Biden Administration has fallen short of the federal law by neglecting to consider the impact of this massive oil sale on Gulf communities and the climate,” said Earthjustice attorney George Torgun. “We’re pleased that Interior excluded habitat for the nearly extinct Gulf of Mexico whale from this lease sale, but it’s equally critical that Interior builds on this step and protects climate and Gulf communities from the harms of leasing.”

“Unfortunately, given BOEM’s history of sacrificing the Gulf of Mexico to Big Oil, this lease sale decision comes as no surprise,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director of Friends of the Earth. “Our lawsuit should also come as no surprise, since BOEM continues to rely on the same outdated, broken environmental analysis. If we are going to make a dent in the climate crisis, business as usual must stop. We are going to keep fighting until the Gulf of Mexico is off the table for good.”

“As steward of the country’s public lands and waters, Interior has a duty to fully consider the harms offshore leasing can cause, from air pollution to oil spills, and beyond,” said Julia Forgie, attorney for NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council).  “This vast lease sale—for millions of acres—poses threats to Gulf communities and endangered species—while contributing to the climate crisis this region knows far too well. We are holding the agency to its obligation to carefully assess these risks and the climate fallout of this giveaway to Big Oil.”

“It’s mind-boggling that in this summer of deadly fossil fuel-driven record heat, fires and flooding the Biden administration couldn’t be bothered to look carefully at the damage this lease sale will cause to people, endangered wildlife and the climate,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Across the country we’re seeing lethal wildfires, boiling ocean temperatures and mass coral die-offs, all caused or exacerbated by a climate unnaturally warmed by fossil fuel emissions. We’ve got to stop letting oil and gas companies make it worse by drilling in our oceans.”

“It is time to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Kristen Schlemmer, Legal Director and Waterkeeper for Bayou City Waterkeeper. “Continued development in the Gulf of Mexico creates unfair burdens on communities in Houston and across the Gulf South. Moving forward with Lease Sale 261 means more drilling in the years to come. It means more facilities in our backyards. It means higher rates of cancer and heart and lung diseases, and it means more risks during major storms.”

“Selling public lands and waters to Big Polluters is incompatible with achieving the ambitious climate goals the Biden Administration itself has set,” said Devorah Ancel, Sierra Club Environmental Law Program senior attorney. “Fossil fuel extraction is destructive to communities, ecosystems, wildlife, and our climate. The devastating effects of climate change, from heat waves to storms, are particularly harmful to frontline communities, as this summer has shown. Moving forward with this lease sale locks us into extraction for decades to come, right as we should be transitioning to clean energy.”

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

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The agreement pauses a suit Earthjustice filed in 2020 on behalf of Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Turtle Island Restoration Network. The groups argued the Trump Administration’s official biological opinion did not adequately evaluate the potential for future oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and did not require sufficient safeguards for imperiled whales, sea turtles, and other endangered and threatened marine species from industrial offshore drilling operations.   

“The simple protective measures in this agreement recognize the first rule of holes: when you find yourself in one, stop digging,” said Steve Mashuda, Earthjustice Managing Attorney for Oceans. “If we’re going to save Rice’s whales, we need to first stop dropping more oil rigs and more ships in their habitat and making the problem worse.”   

The 2010 BP Oil disaster alone killed or seriously harmed more than 100,000 animals protected under the Endangered Species Act, including the Rice’s whale, which lost 20 percent of its population. 

The agreement contains three simple and common-sense protections designed to better safeguard Rice’s whales during the 13-month period that the case is on hold while federal agencies reevaluate the legally binding biological opinion governing Gulf oil and gas activities: 

1. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will exclude Rice’s whale habitat from any lease sales that occur while the lawsuit stay is in effect.   
2. BOEM will require future oil and gas leaseholders to reduce the risks of vessel strikes to Rice’s whales throughout their northern Gulf habitat Any lease sales held during the stay will include a requirement reducing oil-and-gas-related vessel speed to 10 knots when traveling though the whale’s defined habitat. 
3. BOEM will notify existing oil and gas leaseholders of the threat that vessels pose to Rice’s whales and remind operators of their responsibilities to avoid “take” (harming, killing, or harassing) of protected species when seeking permits. It will also outline vessel speed reductions and measures operators should take in the  whales’ habitat.
   
   

Only about 51 Gulf of Mexico whales exist on Earth and they are the only large whale species resident year-round in United States waters. The primary cause of the whales’ current plight –- and the main threat to their very existence -– is oil and gas development. Because the whales bask close to the surface, they are especially at risk of ship strikes. Oil and gas seismic blasting also interferes with the sonar that the whales use to communicate, care for their young and find mates. The National Marine Fisheries Service has concluded that the death of even one female whale jeopardizes the species’ continued existence.  

“None of these stop-gap measures are sufficient to protect and recover these whales in the long-term, but they will make conditions relatively better for the whales while the government evaluates what protective measures are needed to assure the species’ long-term survival,“ said Joanie Steinhaus, Ocean Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Rice’s whales already face several threats, including ship strikes, chronic noise, and oil and gas development. Enough is enough – we must step up to the plate to save this species.” 

As 100 scientists warned in a letter to the Biden administration last year, these whales are critically imperiled and we are facing the first human-caused extinction of a whale species in history.  

“The Gulf ecosystem has suffered immensely from oil spills and offshore drilling operations, and this agreement takes us closer to healing from that harm,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We have plenty of evidence that Rice’s whales, loggerhead sea turtles and other Gulf species are struggling in this extremely industrial environment, and the warming climate is raising water temperatures to alarming levels this summer.  It’s high time to start phasing out offshore drilling.” 

The long-term future of Rice’s whales and other Gulf species also depends on BOEM’s upcoming five-year program for oil and gas leasing, which will be released by the end of September. The five-year plan’s initial draft included up to 10 massive new Gulf of Mexico offshore lease sales. If the government proceeds with a plan with new leases, it will lock in 70 years of additional fossil-fuel extraction, resulting in staggering levels of carbon emissions that would continue in the Gulf at a time when the effects of a worsening climate crisis are evident all around us.  

“Gulf wildlife, Gulf communities, and the global climate do not deserve – and cannot afford — a business-as-usual approach to future offshore leasing,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director for Friends of the Earth. “While we are pleased to have reached this settlement, we are going to keep fighting for no new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters. That is the only path forward.” 

“The perpetuation of the Gulf as a sacrifice zone cannot be permitted to continue,” said Devorah Ancel, Senior Attorney for the Sierra Club. “The communities and the species that call this region home have lived under and faced constant threat from offshore drilling, and we are pleased this settlement has been reached. But the work is far from over to ensure the future and safety of the region is secure.” 

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

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Raena Garcia, Senior Fossil Fuels and Lands Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: 

This designation is a victory for Indigenous groups whose land and livelihoods are often disrupted for the sake of industry profit. In the wake of unpopular mineral lease sales that put our planet in jeopardy, it’s crucial that we continue the fight for federal protections for our public lands and waters. We commend tribal leaders for their tireless work in ensuring the Grand Canyon and the communities within get the recognition they deserve. 

COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org 

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Raena Garcia, Senior Fossil Fuel and Lands Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, issued the following in response: 

Once again, Republicans are sacrificing critical species for political gain. There’s no scientific basis for removing protections for the lesser prairie chicken and long eared bat, and any attempt to do so is nonsensical and unethical. As the Endangered Species Act’s 50th anniversary approaches, we urge the Biden Administration to veto these and any attacks on this hallmark for species protection. 

COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org 

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