Federal court invalidates Gulf oil drilling lease
In a legal setback for fossil fuel advocates, a federal court has invalidated a large offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling Thursday in favor of environmental groups that sued to block the lease after it was scheduled for auction in 2023.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta, an Obama appointee in the District of Columbia, found unlawful a 73-million acre offshore oil and gas lease sale, one of the largest in history, that the Interior Department held in March 2023. Oil and gas leases are contracts in which private companies rent tracts of federal land or water from the government usually for the purposes of drilling or extracting raw materials.
The court ruled in favor of groups that had sued the Interior Department, finding that the agency failed to adequately consider the potential harms of climate changing emissions from fossil fuel production arising out of the lease as well as the impact to the nearly-extinct Rice's whale, which lives exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico. The most recent scientific survey in 2017-18 estimated that only about 50 of the endangered whales are still alive, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Gulf energy industry could face challenges with some of Trump's promises
The judge ordered additional briefing from the parties regarding what remedies the court should impose.
The Interior Department, through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under the Biden administration, had previously canceled the lease sale nearly three years ago. However, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, inserted a provision into the Inflation Reduction Act that forced the Interior Department to resurrect the sales along with two others that were similarly canceled. Separate litigation remains ongoing to decide the fate of the two other sales, one in the Gulf of Mexico and the other in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The next Gulf oil and gas lease is scheduled for auction in 2025, and two others are proposed to take place over the next five years. After leases are sold, it typically takes many years before platforms and other infrastructure are built and drilling begins.
For various reasons, some companies purchase leases and don't use them at all. Hundreds of oil and gas leases currently sit idle as fuel prices have been relatively stable for several years on the global energy market. The last oil and gas lease auction in ANWR this year drew no bids.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Democrats disagree (again). This time, it's about school vouchers.
States will have the ability to opt in or out, presenting Democratic governors with a difficult decision, and one that competing advocacy groups are trying to influence. Democrats for Education Reform, a group closely affiliated with veterans of the Obama administration, has become a leading voice urging the party to cross what has long been a red line, and embrace some forms of private school choice — including the Trump program. The group has prominent allies, including Arne Duncan, who served as secretary of education under President Obama. Duncan is working for the group as a consultant. But the group's new stance in favor of vouchers is provocative within the party — so much so that two former leaders of the organization have quit and are creating a rival group that will oppose vouchers, while supporting other forms of school choice. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump's private school choice program is funded by a federal tax credit, and will offer families of most income levels scholarships that can be used for private school tuition, tutoring or other education expenses. Advertisement The group's chief executive, Jorge Elorza, a former mayor of Providence, has argued vouchers are popular with many of the working-class Black and Latino voters who tilted toward Trump in the 2024 presidential election, and whom Democrats are desperate to win back. Advertisement This past weekend, Elorza traveled to a Democratic Governors Association meeting in Madison, Wisc., to make his case. He has been pointing to a provision in Trump's budget bill that will potentially allow the voucher dollars to be spent on not only private school tuition, but also tutoring or exam fees for students enrolled in traditional public schools. He called opting into the program 'a no-brainer.' 'This is literally free money,' he said, 'that is broadly supported by the majority of voters who have steadily drifted away from the party. It just makes sense.' It could be difficult to convince Democratic governors. Many are closely allied to teachers unions, which have resisted vouchers for decades. The unions argue vouchers leech students and dollars from public education. 'Vouchers are a vehicle to abandon public education,' said Randi Weingarten, the influential president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers' union. In line with the unions, many Democratic politicians have focused their arguments on protecting public school funding. They are also intent on fighting Trump's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and end racial equity efforts. In a sign of just how fractured Democrats are, a third camp is emerging, situated somewhere between the reform group and the unions. Two former staff members of the group are starting a political action committee and a think tank that will reject vouchers while continuing to push for the expansion of the public charter school sector — schools that are publicly funded, but independently run, and are typically not unionized. The groups will also support other ways for parents to exercise choice, such as making it easier for students to attend public schools outside of their residential zones, and they will push for all schools to be held accountable for student learning outcomes. The political action committee, the Center for Strong Public Schools Action Fund, will support candidates who align with those stances, especially in the South. Advertisement Alisha Thomas Searcy, one of the founders, previously served as the rerform group's regional president for the South, and is a former Georgia Democratic state legislator and charter school executive. Her partner in the new venture, Garry Jones, previously served as the group's political director in Texas. Searcy and Jones split with the group after experiencing legislative battles over private school choice in Georgia and Texas, which are among 18 Republican-leaning states that now offer education savings accounts. These accounts are a type of flexible private school voucher that allows parents to spend taxpayer dollars on private education, for-profit virtual learning, tutoring and homeschooling. Searcy declined to name the funders of the new political action group and think tank. She said they will offer 'a bold, clear vision as Democrats, to show that we are the party that protects public education from those privatization and other attacks, and demands that it work for every student.' Democrats who do support private school choice — including those in the coalition — are looking expectantly toward some of the younger moderate governors in the party, several of whom are being discussed as potential presidential candidates in 2028. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is one of them. In a statement, a spokesperson said the governor was still evaluating the new federal voucher program. A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who has supported school choice in the past, said his administration was also reviewing the program, and pointed out that it does not go into effect until 2027. Advertisement This article originally appeared in .
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pam Bondi Escalates Attacks On Obama Officials By Calling For Grand Jury Investigation: Reports
The Justice Department is reportedly probing allegations that Obama officials fabricated evidence of Russian interference during the 2016 election, doubling down on attempts to distract from its controversial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Per reports from CNN and Fox News, Attorney General Pam Bondi has called on prosecutors to initiate a grand jury investigation into these claims – a move that could lead to subpoenas of former officials and even potential indictments. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bondi's decision effectively endorses Trump's latest baseless conspiracy theory — which has included accusing Obama of treason — and comes as the administration has struggled to move on from the Epstein debacle. In recent weeks, Trump argued that Obama and his team manipulated intelligence to delegitimize his presidency, pointing to an announcement from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as proof. Gabbard, in July, released files that she says indicate that Obama officials produced a 'contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win.' She also referred the issue to the DOJ for a criminal investigation ― and suggested that these actions were effectively a 'coup.' Gabbard's interpretation distorts past conclusions drawn by members of the intelligence community, who determined that Russia fielded an influence campaign to damage former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and boost Trump. That finding was also backed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate Intelligence Committee – including now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio. While Gabbard's files provide new information, they don't negate prior findings that Russia sought to influence U.S. voters during the 2016 election, NPR reports. Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush has dismissed Trump's accusations as a 'ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction' as well. 'Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,' Rodenbush said in July. Related... Sen. Graham Calls For 'Investigation' Into Obama — Playing Into Trump's Epstein Distraction Obama Team Issues Rare Rebuttal To Continued Trump Nonsense Trump Renews Lie That Russia Did Not Help Him In 2016, This Time With Gabbard's Help
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Far-left Rep. Jasmine Crockett calls Trump a ‘piece of s–t' in latest rant against the president
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), an outspoken critic of President Trump, called the commander in chief a 'piece of s–t' Sunday during a progressive rally in Arizona. The foul-mouthed congresswoman's latest jab adds to her running tally of crude insults aimed at Trump and other Republican pols. 'Listen, Donald Trump is a piece of s–t. OK, we know that,' Crockett said at the 'Won't Back Down Tour' in Phoenix, an event organized by progressive activist group MoveOn. Crockett has previously argued that Trump is a 'wannabe Hitler.' Getty Images 'He is, he is,' the Texas Democrat continued as the crowd cheered her on, 'but in a functioning democracy, he still would not be able to get away with this.' Crockett accused House and Senate Republicans and the entire judiciary – 'especially the Supreme Court' – of being 'complicit.' 'They refuse to put guardrails on themselves,' Crockett said of Supreme Court justices. 'So it's time for us to do it for them.' The 44-year-old congresswoman's appearance at the rally comes weeks after she criticized 'Squad' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour for being self-promotional rather than about 'the team.' The nationwide rallies headlined by the lefty pair 'kind of makes people be like, Oh, it's about them, right? Instead of the team,' Crockett argued during a May meeting with Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), as detailed in an Atlantic magazine profile of the Texas Democrat published last month. Trump has mocked Crockett as a 'low-IQ person.' via REUTERS Crockett referred to Trump, 79, as a 'wannabe Hitler' in an interview with MSNBC last month, where she also acknowledged that she's running out of insulting epithets to direct at the president. 'I don't even know what to call him. I've called him so many things,' she said. Crockett has previously referred to Trump as a 'dictator,' an 'enemy to the United States,' a 'buffoon,' and a 'mofo.' Crockett also raised eyebrows for referring to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as 'Governor Hot Wheels.' Last month, Trump told The's Post's Miranda Devine, on her 'Pod Force One podcast, that Crockett is the 'new star' of the Democratic Party, while ripping her as 'a low-IQ person.'
