The Biden administration said it would continue to review the “deficiencies” in the federal oil and gas leasing programs, but to comply with a court order, it is holding a Gulf of Mexico (GOM) sale in November.

Lease Sales

Shortly after taking office in January, President Biden ordered a review of the federal oil and gas leasing program to determine if it benefited energy production at the expense of the environment. Interior then suspended lease sales in the GOM, Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Lower 48. However, after a U.S. district court in Louisiana ordered an injunction to block the moratorium, the Department of Interior agreed to resume the lease sales. 

GOM Lease Sale 257 is scheduled for Nov. 17, according to Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management...