Louisiana officials are poised to file another federal lawsuit against the Biden administration’s energy policies, the latest salvo directed against the president’s Jan. 6 withdrawal of the eastern Gulf of Mexico from future oil and gas leasing.
Biden announced that he was withdrawing offshore areas in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and Gulf of Mexico from future energy development, citing the need to protect vulnerable ecosystems, wildlife and coastal communities from the dangers of oil spills and the “devastating and irreversible consequences of climate change.”
The decision by the president in the waning days of his administration drew criticism from Louisiana officials, including Attorney General Liz Murrill, who said on X, formerly Twitter, that such a move threatens the energy industry.
“Joe Biden's offshore drilling ban is one last kick in the gut before he walks out the door!” Murrill said. “We've been fighting these policies from the day he took office & started this assault on the oil and gas industry. Louisiana will not let this action stand!”
Asked about her office’s timeline for filing a federal lawsuit challenging the withdrawal, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said, “Stay tuned.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API) was also quick to call the decision politically motivated and counter to the wishes voters expressed in November.
“American voters sent a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything possible to restrict it,” the API’s president and CEO, Mike Sommers, said in a prepared statement. “Congress and the incoming administration should fully leverage the nation’s vast offshore resources as a critical source of affordable energy, government revenue and stability around the world.”
American offshore production of crude oil accounts for 14% of total U.S. crude oil production, according to API, and additional offshore development could result in more than $8 billion in additional revenues flowing into government coffers by 2040.
The nation’s offshore production translates into the lowest carbon-intensive crude oil found anywhere on the planet, the API said in its statement.
Biden used his authority under a 1953 law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, to withdraw the acreage from offshore energy leasing. But he also stressed that his action did not affect any oil industry rights under existing leases in the eastern Gulf or the other withdrawn areas.
Despite such attempts to limit the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, the United States’ energy production continued to ramp up during Biden’s administration. The U.S. became the world's top oil producer in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and production in 2024 averaged 13.3 million barrels per day, a new record.
A White House statement said that Biden has conserved more than 670 million acres of the nation’s lands, waters and oceans – a record unmatched by any other president.
“The withdrawals advance two important Biden-Harris administration priorities: honoring and protecting areas of significance to tribal nations and indigenous peoples as well as states and other stakeholders; and helping to ensure our oceans and coasts are resilient to the threats of climate change and nature loss,” the statement said.
The White House also stressed that it was also acting to protect multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries in the Gulf of Mexico.