Zinke’s Offshore Drilling Fire Sale Generates Limited Interest For Third Time in Three Tries

New Orleans, LA -- Today, the Department of the Interior received limited industry interest in yet another offshore drilling lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The sale offered up all available, unleased areas of the Gulf for oil and gas leasing and received bids on just 1 percent of the tracts up for auction. Today’s sale is the third in a series of similarly lackluster sales.

The Sierra Club is currently engaged in two legal challenges to the administration’s attempts to sell off the Gulf to the fossil fuel industry without fully analyzing the risks to people, wildlife, and the environment.

Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Zinke is preparing to release a final offshore drilling plan later this year. Zinke’s draft plan would open up nearly every corner of America’s waters to drilling, threatening coastal economies, marine ecosystems, and the climate. The draft plan has faced widespread, bipartisan opposition from elected officials and coastal communities.

In response, Athan Manuel, Director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, issued the following statement:

“When will Ryan Zinke finally get the message that it’s time to scrap his reckless offshore drilling plans? Millions of Americans and elected officials from both sides of the aisle have made it clear that the public does not want dangerous drilling off our coasts, and even corporate polluters aren’t buying what Zinke’s selling. Zinke must finally take the hint and stop these ill-advised efforts to sell off our public lands and waters.”