A recent press release by the Department of the Interior (DOI) outlined their planned next steps for offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing (https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-files-court-brief-outlining-next-steps-leasing-program ).  The announcement summarized a brief submitted in response to a preliminary injunction by a Louisiana district court that prevented the pause in new federal oil and gas leasing set forth in Section 208 of Executive Order 14008, part of the Biden Administration’s goal to halve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Unless changed by the appeal process, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to issue and take comments this fall on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Lease Sale 259 in Cook Inlet, which was put on hold last winter.  The lease sale area is shown shaded in grey below, surrounding the currently leased blocks shown in green.