On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008, Combating the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Section 208 of the Order directed the Secretary of the Interior to “pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices in light of the Secretary of the Interior’s broad stewardship responsibilities over the public lands and in offshore waters, including potential climate and other impacts associated with oil and gas activities on public lands or in offshore waters.”
On November 26, 2021, the Department issued the “review and reconsideration” contemplated by Section 208 of the Executive Order. Accordingly—and independent of the Western District of Louisiana’s June 15, 2021 Order in Louisiana v Biden—Section 208’s pause directive neither provides ongoing direction to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) nor is a factor that BOEM may consider during decisionmaking on such sales. BOEM retains its discretion to manage public lands under applicable law.