Court axes Biden move to shrink offshore oil auction

A federal court is ordering the Biden administration to move forward with an auction for the rights to drill for oil and gas offshore without taking steps to protect endangered whales.

Judge James Cain Jr., a Trump appointee, issued an injunction blocking the administration from removing 6 million acres from an upcoming offshore oil and gas lease sale.

The Biden administration said last month that it would offer up the rights to drill on 67 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.

It excluded the additional 6 million acres and added a stipulation restricting ship activity as a result of an agreement with environmental groups aimed at protecting the Rice’s whale.

There are probably fewer than 100 Rice’s whales remaining, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which describes the species as “one of the most endangered whales in the world.”

After the lease sale was shrunk, the state of Louisiana, as well as oil giants Chevron, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute sued. The court’s move came in response to those lawsuits.

Specifically, the court blocked the removal of the acres from the sale and also prevented the administration from implementing the ship stipulation.

Cain ordered the administration to proceed with the sale, which had been scheduled for Sept. 27, by Sept. 30.

He wrote that the state and energy companies “have demonstrated substantial potential costs” due to the changes to the sale.

The decision was celebrated by the oil and gas industry.

“The injunction is a necessary and welcome response from the court to an unnecessary decision by the Biden administration,” Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a written statement. 

“The removal of millions of highly prospective acres and the imposition of excessive restrictions stemmed from a voluntary agreement with activist groups that circumvented the law, ignored science, and bypassed public input,” Milito added. 

On the other hand, environmental advocates expressed concerns about the potential impacts that oil and gas activities would have on the endangered whales. 

“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,” Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement.