#oil and gas industry

This story from the Washington Post:

Following months of speculation about the administration’s plans, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Thursday that the department will propose a new five-year schedule of lease sales for offshore oil and gas drilling by June 30, when the current program expires, our colleague Anna Phillips reports.

Haaland made the announcement at the start of a Senate budget hearing where Republican lawmakers and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) angrily criticized the Biden administration’s energy policies and pressured the secretary to increase drilling both on land and in federal waters. They expressed doubt that the administration’s new five-year plan would call for any new oil and gas lease sales.

For their part, many climate advocates hope it won’t. New offshore lease sales could represent a 20-year investment in future fossil fuel development at a time when climate scientists are saying the world needs to rapidly transition to cleaner sources of energy.

Questioned about whether Interior intends to hold offshore lease sales, Haaland said the department is still working on its proposal. The earliest it could be finalized is Nov. 30, but it has historically taken the government six months to a year to finalize a new offshore drilling plan.

“The previous Administration stopped work on the new five-year plan in 2018, so there has been a lot to do to catch up. Varying, conflicting litigation has also been a factor,” Haaland said. “We take this responsibility seriously and are not prejudging an outcome.”