Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
New Orleans, LA -- Today, the Department of the Interior hosted what it had touted as the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in American history, offering up all available, unleased areas of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing.
The sale attracted limited industry interest, receiving bids for just 1 percent of the tracts up for auction, in spite of Interior’s decision to slash royalty rates for shallow water drilling in hopes of attracting more bids.
Today’s sale followed a similarly lackluster sale in August, which raised $121 million, about 40 percent less than the Department had hoped. Today’s sale raised just over $124 million. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has described today’s sale as “a bellwether” that will determine whether or not there is interest from the oil and gas industry in pursuing offshore drilling. Interior released a draft offshore drilling plan earlier this year that would expand drilling into nearly every corner of America’s waters.
In response, Athan Manuel, Director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, issued the following statement:
“Ryan Zinke has been falling all over himself to recklessly give our public lands and waters away to corporate polluters. The lack of interest at today’s lease sale should make it clear to Zinke that he must scrap his ill-advised offshore drilling plan and protect America’s public lands and waters. Zinke has long made it clear that he values oil and gas interests over the people he is supposed to serve. If he won’t listen to the voices of millions of Americans calling for our coasts, climate, and communities to be protected, hopefully he’ll hear these crickets from industry loud and clear.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.