Statement: Lease sale held in endangered Rice’s whale habitat

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday held the final lease sale required by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, auctioning up tracts of the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters for oil and gas exploration. Earlier versions of Lease Sale 261 excluded large areas of critical habitat for highly endangered Rice’s whales. However, in November, a federal appeals court overturned those provisions designed to protect the recently discovered species, so the final leased area may include places inhabited by Rice’s whales. 

The lease sale comes one month after an oil spill leaked more than 1 million gallons from a pipeline just off the Louisiana coastline — a stark reminder of the risks posed to oceans and marine wildlife by oil and gas drilling.

Lease Sale 261 will not be the final oil and gas sale in the Gulf. Earlier in December, the Biden administration finalized the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. This plan outlines three additional lease sales, the fewest in any five-year period since the U.S. began that oil and gas program in 1980. However, the government would extend drilling and leasing to 2029, with production potentially lasting for decades beyond that. 

In response, Ian Giancarlo, oceans advocate with Environment America, released the following statement:

“For decades, we’ve seen that drilling leads to spilling. The Deepwater Horizon disaster was 13 years ago yet its effects continue to harm marine life in the Gulf. We don’t need new offshore oil rigs, especially when there are clean, cheap, renewable energy alternatives. The fate of animals such as the Rice’s whale, and our climate, depend on it.” 

Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, released the following statement:

“It’s clear that drilling in the Gulf means losing marine life. Animals such as the endangered Rice’s whale deserve to live in waters free from the oil, debris, and vessel strikes that are an inevitable byproduct of offshore drilling. New leases continue to put them at risk.”

Mia McCormick, advocate with Environment Florida, released the following statement:

“Whether an oil rig is 20 miles from our coast or 200, when we drill anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico, we risk a spill that could cover our coastline with oil. At a time when algal blooms and seagrass die-offs are already killing our manatees, dolphins and more, we can’t afford more risk to our sea life. Let’s end this dirty, dangerous practice for good and protect our coast.”