Biden Administration Cancels Million-Acre Oil and Gas Lease Sales

The Interior Department (DOI) announced Wednesday that it will cancel three high-profile oil and gas lease sales.

Cancelling the scheduled sales takes millions of acres off the auction block, including over 1 million acres in Alaska's Cook Inlet. A department spokesperson said the Alaska lease sale would not proceed due to insufficient industry interest, and that the planned sale of the two Gulf of Mexico leases will not move forward "due to factors including conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales."

President Joe Biden has typically opposed domestic oil drilling as part of his cleaner energy agenda. Shortly after taking office, he signed an executive order freezing new oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Federal law requires the DOI to maintain five-year leasing plans for auctioning offshore leases. DOI had until the end of the current five-year plan, which ends on June 30, to complete the sales.

News sources across the spectrum framed the move as significant and as a political challenge for Biden as inflation continues to hit consumers and gas prices in the U.S. reach all-time highs. Coverage from right-rated sources highlighted the news more prominently and focused more on voices who blamed high gas prices and the lack of domestic oil production on Biden and Democrats' push for cleaner energy. Reports from left-rated sources spent more time highlighting climate activists who celebrated the cancellations as a win for sustainability.