The Biden administration auctioned off over 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling Wednesday despite a campaign promise to ban new oil and gas leasing, the Boston Globe reported.
The auction is the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in the United States, according to the Boston Globe. The new leases will produce 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a Department of the Interior estimate, the Globe reported.
Days after the Paris Agreement was brokered the Obama administration quietly lifted the crude oil export ban.
Days after the Glasgow Climate Pact was brokered the Biden administration is holding the largest oil and gas lease sale US history. https://t.co/KJgSaLc2dH
— Kate Aronoff (@KateAronoff) November 17, 2021
“This morning was met with extreme disappointment, depleted hope, and shattered trust,” Legal Director for Friends of the Earth Hallie Templeton said, the Globe reported.
Just four days before the sale, the Biden administration signed the COP26 pact, which requires countries to eliminate subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. Biden previously pledged to ban new oil and gas leasing on public land and water.
A federal judge ruled in favor of 13 states in June when they sued the Department of the Interior after Biden issued an executive order temporarily pausing the sale of the leases, according to the Globe. However, the Department of the Interior has appealed the court’s decision. (RELATED: CARTER: Biden’s Oil And Gas Leasing Moratorium Will Harm US Energy Independence)
The decision goes against the Interior’s obligation to protect the environment through selling oil and gas leases, according to Jane Patton, a campaigner with the Center for International Environmental Law, the Globe reported.
“I don’t understand why the Administration is hiding behind the order of one judge while that decision is under appeal and the law grants the Secretary of the Interior all the authority needed to stop this,” Patton said, according to the Globe. “Frankly, I’m enraged.”
Patton was contacted by the Daily Caller for additional comment but did not immediately respond.