The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has posted an update. The Department of the Interior (DOI) will release the proposed program, the next step in the five-year offshore energy planning process, by June 30, 2022. That’s what Deb Haaland, the secretary of the interior, confirmed during testimony before a recent U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the DOI revealed. In a statement posted on its website, the DOI highlighted that the program would be released “despite delays in implementation from the previous administration”. In the statement, the DOI also noted that a proposed program is not a decision to issue specific leases or to authorize any drilling or development. “The previous administration stopped work on the new five-year plan in 2018, so there has been a lot to do to catch up,” Haaland said in a DOI statement. “Varying, conflicting litigation has also been a factor. […]