The Department of the Interior (DOI) and DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) jointly announced the proposed final plan for offshore oil and gas (O&G) leases for 2017–2022. According to the BOEM, the proposed final plan makes available areas containing approximately 70 percent of the economically recoverable resources in the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS). Of the 11 lease sales being offered, 10 are in the Gulf of Mexico; only one—in the Cook Inlet Program Area—is off the coast of Alaska. No lease sales are proposed in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, both of which are rich in O&G deposits.
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The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCS Act) requires the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a 5-year plan that includes a schedule of potential O&G lease sales and indicates the size, timing, and location of proposed leasing determined to best meet national energy needs while addressing a range of economic, environmental, and social considerations. The Secretary of the Interior may approve the final 2017–2022 program a minimum of 60 days after the proposed final plan is released. This means the proposal could become final (with a July 1, 2017, effective date) before President-Elect Trump takes the oath of office. Trump campaigned with the promise to open the Alaskan Arctic to O&G development.