U.S. COURT VACATES OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES DUE TO INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

A U.S. court vacated a massive offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) acted arbitrarily by failing to provide a quantitative estimate or specific explanation regarding downstream greenhouse gas emissions from reduced foreign consumption in its 'no-go' alternative analysis.

• On January 27, 2022, the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a lease sale for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, which was the largest in U.S. history covering 37.4 million offshore hectares.
• The court ruled that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) acted arbitrarily by not considering foreign oil consumption when evaluating greenhouse gas emissions for the 'no action' alternative, relying on a NEPA analysis that had been previously deemed 'arbitrary and capricious' by other courts.
• To conduct future lease sales, the Department of the Interior and BOEM must perform a new NEPA analysis and environmental impact statement, specifically providing either a quantitative estimate of downstream greenhouse gas emissions from reduced foreign consumption or a detailed explanation of why such an estimate is not possible.
• The court rejected the plaintiffs' argument that BOEM was required to incorporate new climate change information, specifically regarding the role of oil and gas leasing in meeting the 1.5 degree warming limit goal.

APA

Natural Justice (2022). U.S. COURT VACATES OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES DUE TO INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Friends-of-the-Earth-v.-Haaland.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. U.S. COURT VACATES OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES DUE TO INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. 2022. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Friends-of-the-Earth-v.-Haaland.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=U.S. COURT VACATES OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES DUE TO INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS |date=March 2022 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Friends-of-the-Earth-v.-Haaland.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2022court, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{U.S. COURT VACATES OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES DUE TO INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF RELATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Friends-of-the-Earth-v.-Haaland.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }