Surfrider Sues to Seek Stronger Protections in Five-Year Offshore Leasing Program

Surfrider Foundation and our coalition of environmental Gulf community groups have filed a lawsuit that will directly counter the oil industry’s legal challenge of the Department of Interior’s Five-Year Offshore Leasing Program. As the oil industry pursues a strategy of maximum fossil fuel development in the Gulf of Mexico with a new legal challenge, Surfrider and our allies have entered litigation to expose grave concerns with the offshore oil and gas leasing plan regarding climate, public health, and the environment.

The new Biden Administration drilling plan under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”) for 2024-2029 was put forth by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) in September 2023 and was informed by nearly a million public comments opposing oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters, including many from Surfrider Foundation members. The final Five-Year Program was approved by the Department of Interior on December 14, 2023.

While that final Five-Year Program represents a significant improvement over the Biden Administration’s initial proposal for 11 lease sales, the three massive lease sales it allows for in the Gulf of Mexico between 2025 and 2029 are based on an inaccurate analysis that fails to evaluate and weigh the full scope of environmental harm against additional offshore drilling. The American Petroleum Institute, representing the oil industry, has challenged the Biden Administration’s Five-Year Program, as well, for not including enough oil and gas lease opportunities. The oil industry lawsuit comes on the heels of another lawsuit from the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Shell, and the State of Louisiana to remove baseline protections for the critically endangered Rice’s whale. In November, more than one million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico; another major incident and predictable consequence of offshore oil and gas development. The environmental coalition’s action in this case is critical to publicly refute the misleading information and climate calculation offered by the oil industry.

Healthy Gulf, Friends of the Earth, Bayou City Waterkeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Sierra Club, and the Surfrider Foundation, as represented by Earthjustice, filed a legal challenge on February 12, 2024, to address the failures of the Five-Year Program in protecting frontline communities and assessing environmental justice effects of continued offshore fossil fuel development. Gulf Coast residents already suffer disproportionate health burdens due to life-threatening, toxic industrial pollution stemming from federal offshore oil and gas leasing, and these harms will be extended with approval for future leasing. The Department of the Interior also failed to properly evaluate the impacts of oil and gas leasing on endangered species, particularly how new leasing would further imperil the critically endangered Rice’s whale, one of the world’s most endangered marine species.

Earthjustice attorney Brettny Hardy states: “The oil and gas industry is already sitting on nine million acres of undeveloped leases. They certainly are not entitled to more. Although we acknowledge the government’s focus on climate impacts with the release of this five-year offshore leasing plan, we are taking legal action today because we are concerned about how it will jeopardize the health of overburdened communities.”  

“In Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast, the stakes are high: More fossil fuels means more carbon emissions, which means more intense hurricanes hitting the inadequately guarded petrochemical infrastructure that is already in place,” said Kristen Schlemmer, Legal Director & Waterkeeper for Bayou City Waterkeeper in Houston. “It is time for us to transition away from these industries, not enable further drilling in the years to come.”

This litigation will advance Surfrider’s long-standing opposition to expanded offshore drilling under our Ocean Protection Initiative because the Five-Year Program is incompatible with the nation’s climate goals, environmental justice for Gulf communities, and wildlife protection. “The industry’s unwarranted lawsuit belies the fact that new offshore drilling is broadly unpopular and is not needed to meet our nation’s energy needs. Moreover, new offshore drilling will increase carbon pollution and undermine U.S. and global efforts to address climate change,” said Pete Stauffer, Ocean Protection Manager, Surfrider Foundation.

Surfrider Foundation has a long and proud history of defending our coasts from new offshore drilling. Please see the links below to learn more and take action!

Urge Congress to End New Offshore Drilling: Take Action

Visit Surfrider's Stop Offshore Drilling Campaign Page