DOI issues Final Supplemental EIS for Gulf of Mexico Lease Sales

On January 13, 2023, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) published the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) for two offshore oil and gas lease sales it is required to hold under section 50264 of the IRA. The FEIS covers “lease sale 259” and “lease sale 261,” both of which would make offshore areas in the Gulf of Mexico available for oil and gas development. The EIS notes that “BOEM has no discretion on whether to hold these sales.” Nevertheless, BOEM prepared the “[FEIS] to follow its normal leasing process to the fullest extent possible and inform the decisionmaker on impacts from a representative lease sale, mitigations, and other action alternatives.”