"A coalition of environmental organizations on Monday announced a lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM), arguing the bureau’s sales of leases in the Gulf of Mexico were unlawful.
In the lawsuit, plaintiffs argued BOEM’s plans to lease more than 70 million acres of Gulf waters for fossil fuel development are based on a “deeply flawed” environmental review. The Biden administration had previously canceled the lease sales due to contradictory court rulings, but following a provision negotiated by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in the Inflation Reduction Act requiring the sales, they are set for March 28.
The lawsuit argues the BOEM environmental impact statement failed to properly incorporate risks from factors such as oil spills and ship strikes and that it did not properly assess the risks from greenhouse gas emissions. The plaintiffs also charge that, in violation of the National Environmental Protection Act, the EIS only evaluated the leasing of “almost all available areas” in the Gulf waters rather than considering a smaller-scale alternative."
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