Staff Reports
Last week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it’s sticking it to the radical environmentalists by scheduling Lease Sale 261 in the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico for Dec. 20. That’s right, folks, the Biden administration was ordered by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to get on with it and hold the lease sale or else!
After Fifth Circuit ruling, Gulf lease sales scheduled for Dec. 20https://t.co/o7nbZjGFWp
— The Center Square (@thecentersquare) November 19, 2023
You see, back in September, a federal judge said the Biden bunch had to go through with offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico as originally planned, but the appeals court pushed back the lease sale date to Nov. 8. Can you believe the nerve? But the good news is that the appeals court now says the Biden administration has to hold the lease sale within 37 days of its ruling and include a whopping 6 million acres in the Gulf that they previously removed from the sale. That’s what I call a victory for common sense and good ol’ American energy independence!
The reason those acres were taken out in the first place is because of some concerns about an endangered whale species. Give me a break! The environmental groups opposing offshore drilling are on a mission to destroy American energy production, claiming that these innocent whales would go extinct if drilling continues in their habitat. But the truth is, folks, the Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whale and Rice’s whale are already protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. So there’s no need to throw a fit and block American energy production, am I right?
Well, thankfully, the state of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute, and companies like Chevron and Shell stood up to fight against this nonsense. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry called the rulings a “major win” for Louisiana jobs and affordable energy. You tell ’em, Jeff! We can’t let these overreaching bureaucrats and environmental extremists run the show.
Now, the opening of bids for Lease Sale 261 will be livestreamed on Dec. 20, and you can bet the house that the oil and natural gas industry, led by the Gulf states of Texas and Louisiana, will show up ready to keep America energy independent and strong!
And let’s not forget, this fight isn’t just about one lease sale. The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a five-year plan to impose even greater restrictions on federal offshore oil and gas leasing. What a disgrace! We need uninterrupted leasing activities to keep America’s energy flowing and our jobs secure. But of course, the Biden administration is waging an all-out war on the oil and gas industry, trying to make us more dependent on foreign oil. It’s a sad state of affairs when our own government is working against the American people.
So, let’s keep fighting the good fight, folks, and stand up for American energy independence and the hardworking individuals who keep our country running. Because when it comes to energy, we have to put America first!
