NOIA: Biden must accelerate offshore oil and gas program development
Following Interior Deb Haaland’s announcement that the Biden Administration would publish the Proposed Program for the next Five Year Program for offshore oil and gas leasing by June 30th, National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said Interior has had 16 months to fulfill its statutory obligation to develop and maintain an offshore oil and gas leasing program and it has failed.
Haaland made the announcement during the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee hearing on Thursday.
“No other administration has failed in this way,” Milito said. “Until now, every administration, whether Democrat or Republican, has recognized the critical, strategic advantages of continued U.S. offshore oil and gas production that are achieved through an uninterrupted national leasing program.”
The current intentional obstruction and delays in U.S. energy development have devastating consequences for Americans at the gas pump, our national security, global geopolitics, our near- and long-term energy security, and high-paying jobs across the country, he said.
“The ecosystem of companies, small and large, that team up to produce low carbon barrels of oil from the Gulf of Mexico for the benefit of American consumers are the same companies that are innovating the solutions for addressing the climate challenge. We need energy policy that is grounded in reality; that means we need policies that promote zero and low carbon energy and the development of oil and gas supplies here at home.”
