Gov’t OKs nearly $190M in bids from offshore oil lease sale

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. government has accepted nearly $190 million in bids from an offshore oil and gas lease sale that was held nearly a year ago but rejected by a federal judge. Wednesday’s action by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management meets a deadline set in the climate bill signed in August. That law also requires the bureau to schedule three sales that had been put on hold by the Biden administration, with the first held by Dec. 31. An American Petroleum Institute official says he’s pleased that the sale has gone through but disappointed “that it took 19 months and an act of Congress.”