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Climate & Environment

Biden pulls 3 offshore oil lease sales, curbing new drilling this year

With the nationwide offshore drilling program expiring at the end of June, oil companies and climate activists face uncertainty over the future of leasing

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Updated May 12, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. EDT|Published May 11, 2022 at 10:21 p.m. EDT
Docked oil drilling platforms seen in May 2020 in Port Aransas, Tex. (Eric Gay/AP)
6 min

The Interior Department confirmed Wednesday that it will not hold three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska that had been scheduled to take place, taking millions of acres off the auction block.

The decision, which comes as U.S. gas prices have reached record highs, effectively ends the possibility of the federal government holding a lease sale in coastal waters this year. The Biden administration is poised to let the nationwide offshore drilling program expire next month without a new plan in place.