Appeals Court Gives Green Lights Gulf Drilling, Siding With Feds Over Environmentalists

Appeals Court Rules Department of Interior’s Gulf of America Leasing Program Is Legally Sound, Denies Challenge from Environmental Groups

In a major victory for the oil and gas industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the Department of the Interior’s five-year offshore drilling plan for the Gulf of America. The court’s decision, issued today, denies a petition from a coalition of environmental groups that argued the plan failed to adequately consider environmental justice risks and the impacts on the critically endangered Rice’s whale.

The ruling affirms the Interior Department’s 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which schedules three lease sales in the Gulf of America for 2025, 2027, and 2029. This program,