President Joe Biden is cutting back on the number of spots that the U.S. government will lease to oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico as Americans continue to suffer from high energy prices under the administration.
The administration is allowing oil and gas companies “a maximum of three potential oil and gas lease sales – the fewest oil and gas lease sales in history – in the Gulf of Mexico Program Area scheduled in 2025, 2027 and 2029,” the Department of the Interior said in a statement.
That number is “the minimum number” that gives the Interior Department the ability to expand its offshore wind leasing program through 2030 in accordance with requirements in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The New York Times noted that the five-year plan from the administration is “significant” because it stops the government from allowing “any lease sales that are not specified in the plan, and the time frame is such that it determines the actions of a future administration.”
The extreme plan received pushback from industry leaders and top U.S. lawmakers in both parties who said that its purpose was to harm the United States.
“At a time when inflation runs rampant across the country, the Biden administration is choosing failed energy policies that are adding to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump,” said Mike Sommers, the president of the American Petroleum Institute. “This restrictive offshore leasing program is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production, ultimately weakening America’s energy dominance, limiting consumers access to affordable reliable energy and compromising our ability to lead on the global stage. For decades, we’ve strived for energy security and this administration keeps trying to give it away.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that Biden was putting his “radical political agenda over American energy security, and the American people will pay the price.”
“It makes no sense at all to actively be limiting our energy production while our adversaries are weaponizing energy around the world,” he added. “This is a failure of leadership, and I will continue to do everything in my power to hold this Administration accountable.”
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told The Daily Wire in a statement: “The Biden administration continues their illogical attack on U.S. energy production. The latest announcement that the administration will only hold three new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico will simply force consumers to use foreign sources, which produce more methane and take more energy to transport. America produces the cleanest oil and gas, and if President Biden is really concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, he should be encouraging more domestic American energy production. Instead, his radical policies are going to raise gasoline prices, hurt families and businesses, and weaken American energy security by emboldening Russia and Iran.”