The Biden administration proposed July 1 offering oil and natural gas drillers no more than 10 lease sales for offshore Gulf of Mexico acreage and a single auction for Alaska waters through 2028, a sharp reduction from the 47 sales the Trump administration proposed. The next proposed five-year plan removes the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from consideration, which was expected. It also floats the possibility of scrapping all offshore sales for the period. The Interior Department is seeking comments on the proposal, which was released a day after the Biden administration missed a deadline to adopt a final five-year plan. The process has in the past taken two or three years to finalize. The latest proposed National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program calls for a single Gulf of Mexico sale in both 2023 and 2028, and two each in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. The sale […]