Interior Justifies Oil and Gas Leasing Program Design Process

The Interior Department defended its 2024-2029 oil and gas leasing plan to a federal appeals court, saying industry and environmental groups criticizing the program “merely quibble” with the agency’s “reasonable methodology.”

Interior developed an “extensive” environmental impact statement, responded to thousands of public comments, and “developed several technical analyses and models” when putting together the five-year program, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in a brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act allows the secretary of the Interior to establish a schedule of lease sales for five-year ...