The Department of the Interior released Thursday a draft program that proposes over the next five years almost three dozen offshore lease sales, none of which is in the Atlantic, but instead are around Alaska and in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.
The secretary of the Interior directed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, to draft the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program to replace the 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program put in place during the Biden administration, according to a press release.
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A 60-day public comment period opens when the draft program is published in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen Monday.
The draft program proposes up to 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of 27 existing outer continental shelf planning areas, with 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of Mexico, and six along the Pacific Coast, totaling around 1.27 billion acres.
The sites selected in the proposed program are not restricted by presidential memorandum, unlike much of the Atlantic Coast. The North Carolina section of the Atlantic Coast is unavailable for oil and gas leasing until 2032 per a presidential memorandum.
The draft is the first of three proposals that will be developed before final approval of the 2026-2031 program, and is a directive in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that requires the secretary of the Interior to prepare a national program that identifies the size, timing, and location of potential lease sales.
