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Amidst rising gas prices, the Biden administration is collaborating with environmental organizations to limit offshore energy production.
They claim to be saving whales, but their true intention is to impede our access to offshore oil and natural gas resources in the United States. If they genuinely care about whales, they would put a stop to the harmful offshore wind turbines.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior, will conduct Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261 next month. This sale will offer energy companies approximately 13,620 blocks on 73.4 million acres of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf for the development of oil and natural gas.
In about 8,000 feet of water, Shells Perdido offshore drilling and production platform is the world’s deepest offshore rig. It is located in the Gulf of Mexico 200 miles southwest of Houston, Texas. (Gary Tramontina/Corbis via Getty Images)
However, due to a recently resolved lawsuit claiming to protect Rice’s whales, around 11 million acres within the sale area will be off-limits for energy production.
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Furthermore, the area will be subjected to provisions that impose speed and operational restrictions exclusively on oil and gas vessels, whereas thousands of other ships navigating those waters are exempt. Combined, these conditions could render new oil and gas leases in the Gulf financially unviable for domestic energy producers.
The Sierra Club, alongside a few other environmental groups, won a victory with these restrictions by taking the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to court and demanding further marine life protections.
This marks a return to the “sue and settle” strategy, which was blocked during the Trump administration but reinstated by the current administration. It enables special interest groups and cooperative individuals within the EPA and other federal agencies to bypass the legislative process and establish policies through closed-door negotiations, without input from affected parties or the public.
In this particular case, domestic energy development faces stringent restrictions despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting the litigants’ claims of whale protection. The BOEM itself has not concluded that accidental harm to whales is probable.
What is certain is that this unilateral decision by the Interior Department places a significant risk on a crucial aspect of U.S. energy security.
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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Gulf of Mexico is responsible for 15% of total U.S. crude oil production and 5% of total U.S. dry natural gas production. Additionally, over 47% of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity and 51% of total natural gas processing plant capacity are located along the Gulf coast.
The EIA also reports that 61% of gasoline used on the East Coast and approximately 16% of crude oil processed in Midwestern refineries are shipped from the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
However, environmental extremists pay little attention to these facts or the potential harm that losing American-made energy would cause to consumers and the economy. A spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the organizations demanding more restrictions on offshore leases, recently stated, “We should be phasing out offshore drilling entirely.”
However, phasing out offshore drilling would not reduce the demand for oil and gas. It would simply force us to rely more heavily on foreign suppliers. This could potentially result in increased carbon emissions since the Gulf of Mexico produces some of the least carbon-intensive barrels of oil in the world. Constraining production in this region could lead to the substitution of higher-carbon-intensive energy sources from other parts of the world.
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Secret settlements concerning offshore oil production establish a dangerous precedent. Banning offshore drilling is only one extreme agenda sought after by environmentalists.
They consistently obstruct the construction of pipelines (despite their superior safety and lower emissions compared to other modes of transportation). They would be delighted to eliminate mining for rare earth metals and hand that industry over to China and other foreign countries. They also advocate for government mandates requiring everyone to drive electric vehicles.
The list goes on. This restriction on offshore leasing could have far-reaching consequences that disrupt interstate commerce. If environmental NGOs can collude with the federal government to limit interstate commercial activity for crucial oil and gas products, which economic sector will be targeted next?
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Undisclosed environmental settlements like this put U.S. energy security at risk, endanger American jobs, and increase our reliance on carbon-intensive fuels produced by countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and others.
Congress should be responsible for establishing the regulations governing domestic energy production, rather than leaving it to political appointees and environmental activists engaged in deal-making.
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