(TargetLiberty.org) – On Thursday Chevron, the state of Louisiana, and the American Petroleum Institute filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the changes to the Gulf of Mexico lease sales that is focused on protecting endangered whales.
On Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the final sale notice for the lease which included the new protection for the Rice whales. This protection means that six million acres are no longer included in the lease area. Chevron, the state of Louisiana, and the American Petroleum Institute have argued that this change is in violation of the Inflation Reduction Act provision that requires the lease to be sold in September.
Ryan Meyers, the API senior vice president released a statement in which they noted that despite the intention that the Congress had set, the Biden administration had released a “lease dale in name only” as around 6 million acres were removed from the sale. They further claimed that the restrictions being added on oil and natural gas vessels were completely unjustified especially as other vessels in the area would not have to abide by them. He added that along with Chevron and the State of Louisiana, they were going to be using the legal pathways available to fight against these actions.
The acreage restriction is part of a settlement that would help protect the endangered Rice whale population in the Gulf. Currently, there are only 50 whales left in the Gulf, and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed around 20 percent of the whales in the area.
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