Biden admin launches first ‘offshore wind farm lease sale’ in Gulf of Mexico as oil and gas leases end

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced the government’s first-ever “wind power lease sale” in the Gulf of Mexico, which will give companies the opportunity to bid on Gulf Coast wind power sites and contribute to “America’s transition to clean energy.” “

The announcement comes as the number of offshore oil and gas leases granted by the Biden administration has fallen to historic lows. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Biden administration leased 1.7 million acres of offshore oil and gas production in its first two years, less than any president since President Richard Nixon, and about a third in its first two years. year of President Barack Obama.

This statistic shows how effectively the Biden administration is delivering on Biden’s promise to abruptly stop drilling new oil and gas wells. As a candidate, Biden famously promised “no more drilling on federal lands, no drilling, including offshore.”

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President Biden speaks during the 2022 meeting on the Federal Offshore Wind Partnership at the White House Roosevelt Hall. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)

But while offshore oil and gas leases have dried up under Biden, his administration is looking to make up the difference with its latest sale of offshore wind farms. Biden’s Department of the Interior said Wednesday the announcement is part of his efforts to “develop America’s clean energy economy.”

“The clean energy transition in America is happening right here and now,” said Home Secretary Deb Haaland. “At the Department, we are taking steps to launch our offshore wind power and leverage American innovation to provide reliable, affordable power for homes and businesses.”

Interior said it had already held three auctions for offshore wind farms, including one off the coast of New York and another on the Pacific coast in California. It says the Gulf of Mexico lease will auction off three properties off the coast of Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

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Home Secretary Deb Haaland announced Wednesday the first sale of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Mexico. (Hyun Chan/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

The department said that the Home Office will take into account a number of environmental and “fairness” considerations when considering lease proposals. For example, the Department of the Interior has said it will take into account Biden’s executive order “To promote racial equality and support low-income communities through the federal government” when auctioning wind farm leases.

Interior “reviews lease terms to ensure that communities, especially low-income communities, are considered and engaged in the offshore wind development process early on, and often throughout the process, that potential impacts and benefits from tenant projects are documented, and tenant project proposals are informed. or modified to eliminate those impacts and benefits.”

The government will also require companies to contribute to a fisheries mitigation compensation fund to address “the potential negative impact on commercial and recreational fishermen caused by offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico.”

It will also require tenants to summarize their “engagement with tribes and ocean users that could potentially be affected by proposed offshore wind activities.”

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President Biden has dramatically reduced the number of oil and gas leases in his first two years in office.

In his first two years in office, the only offshore oil and gas leases that took place under Biden were by order of Congress or the courts. And late last year, the Biden administration allowed the federal government’s five-year plan to lease offshore oil and gas fields to expire for the first time in history, making new offshore leases difficult until a new plan is passed.

The API argues that the oil and gas industry needs time ahead of time to scout and find energy reserves in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, and that Biden’s slowdown in offshore oil and gas lease sales is creating huge industry uncertainty and potential energy supply problems. road.

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“According to analysis prepared by Energy and Industrial Advisory Partners, a failure in the federal offshore leasing program could threaten America’s energy security, result in the loss of thousands of jobs and the risk of losing billions of federal, state and local revenues,” said API senior vice president. on communications. Megan Bloomgren wrote this month.