The Biden administration on Wednesday announced the government’s first-ever offshore “wind lease sale” in the Gulf of Mexico, which will give companies a chance to bid on areas of the Gulf Coast to produce wind energy and contribute to America’s “clean energy transition.”
The announcement comes as the number of offshore oil and gas leases granted under the Biden administration have shrunk to historic lows. The Biden administration has leased 1.7 million offshore acres for oil and gas in its first two years, fewer than any president since President Richard Nixon and about a third seen in President Barack Obama’s first two years, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).
That statistic shows how effectively the Biden administration has been at keeping Biden’s promise to dramatically shut down new oil and gas drilling. As a candidate, Biden famously promised “no more drilling on federal lands, no more drilling, including offshore.”
