Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the D.C. District Court canceled the Biden administration’s massive sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that the administration was wrong to rely on a Trump administration analysis that ignored the climate impacts of new fossil fuel extraction.   

While the Biden administration has claimed that it was legally required to go forward with the 80 million acre lease sale, this ignores a Justice Department memo – reported by the Guardian in November – that explained how the White House was not, in fact, compelled to proceed with the lease sale. 

Food & Water Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking communications between the Department of Interior, the White House, members of Congress, and the oil industry related to the decision to go ahead with the sale.

In response Food & Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh issued the following statement:

“The Biden administration’s foolish plan to lease a vast swath of the Gulf of Mexico to the oil and gas industry would have spelled disaster for our climate and the Gulf communities already suffering from intense air and water pollution caused by the industry. 

“Thankfully the courts intervened when President Biden failed yet again to live up to his unequivocal campaign pledge to halt new oil and gas extraction on federal lands and waters. It’s time for this administration to finally stand up for people and our planet, and start standing firmly against fossil fuels. It can start by accepting this prudent court decision and confirming the cancellation of this unconscionable Gulf leasing plan.”

Contact: Seth Gladstone – [email protected]