BOEM’s Draft EIS Sets the Stage for GoM Oil Leasing in a Shifting Energy Landscape

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released its Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales.

The announcement comes on the heels of the Department of the Interior’s December 2023 publication of the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

The new program represents a historic shift in U.S. energy policy, featuring the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales ever included in a five-year program. The plan strategically limits lease sales to three locations in the Gulf of Mexico, completely excluding Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaskan waters.

“This Programmatic EIS is expected to inform the decision for the first GOM oil and gas lease sale proposed in the Leasing Program. It is also expected to be used and supplemented as appropriate for decisions on future proposed GOM lease sales,” BOEM said in a statement. The assessment will also guide future lease sales and support various post-lease activities.

A notable provision in the Inflation Reduction Act maintains a delicate balance between traditional and renewable energy development, requiring BOEM to offer at least 60 million acres for oil and gas leasing before issuing any offshore wind development leases. The legal framework for these decisions stems from Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act, which empowers the Interior Secretary to create five-year lease sale schedules that optimize regional and national energy needs while considering environmental impacts.

The draft Programmatic EIS emerges amid the incoming Trump Administration’s plans to accelerate offshore oil and gas development, aligning with Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” campaign promise, while curtailing offshore wind development.

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to issue an executive order on his first day in office to halt the wind energy sector, directing his energy policy toward approving export permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and expanding oil drilling off the U.S. coast and on federal lands. The energy shift could mark a stark contrast to the Biden Administration’s energy transition policies.

In December 2023, a BOEM auction of Gulf of Mexico drilling rights raised $382 million as oil companies bid on offshore acreage for the final time until 2025. This auction total was the highest of any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale since 2015.

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