Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today celebrated President Biden's decision to withdraw certain areas offshore the United States from all future oil and natural gas leasing. Today's action recognizes that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh any limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies - including fishing, recreation and tourism - from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling.
"President Biden's actions today are part of our work across this Administration to make bold and enduring changes that recognize the impact of oil and gas drilling on our nation's coastlines," said Secretary Haaland. "Today, the President is taking action that reflects what states, Tribes and local communities have shared with us - a strong and overwhelming need to support resilient oceans and coastlines by protecting them from unnecessary oil and gas development."
Using his authority under section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), President Biden today issued memoranda to withdraw significant portions of the Outer Continental Shelf from future oil and natural gas leasing, including the entire U.S. Pacific and Eastern Atlantic coasts, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the remainder of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area offshore Alaska. The withdrawal areas announced today encompass more than 625 million acres - and represent the largest withdrawal in U.S. history.
On federal lands and waters, oil production in 2024 is at an all-time high. In fiscal year 2023, the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) produced approximately 675 million barrels of oil and 796 billion cubic feet of gas, accounting for roughly 14 percent of all oil production and two percent of natural gas production in the United States. Nearly all of this production is in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico, where industry has yet to produce on more than 80 percent of the 12 million acres already under lease.
The National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2024-2029 includes three potential oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico planning areas, which are not impacted by today's action. In contrast, the previous Administration's Draft Proposed 5-year Program included 47 lease sales and included potential oil and gas auctions in all planning areas subject to these withdrawals - a proposal that garnered significant bipartisan opposition from coast to coast.
Industry activity in the newly withdrawn areas has been very low, historically. There is no active oil and gas exploration and development along the eastern U.S. Atlantic or in the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. There are approximately 30 decades-old existing leases offshore southern California, and approximately a dozen in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Nothing in the withdrawals affects rights under existing leases.
The President's memoranda and maps of the areas withdrawn will be made available on the White House's website.
