Biden Trims Gulf Oil Lease Area to Protect Rare Whale Habitat
- Government pares acreage amid concerns about Rice’s whale
- Sept. 27 sale is last offshore oil auction on the books in US
Rice’s Whale
Source: NOAA Fisheries
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The Biden administration plans to auction 67 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas development in a lease sale next month, cutting 9% from the initial proposal.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reduced the available territory by 6.4 million acres following a legal settlement with environmentalists to safeguard potential habitat of one of the world’s most endangered types of whales.