To watch a video of Chairman Manchin’s remarks, click here.

Washington, DC – Today, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, criticized the Biden Administration for postponing offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 261 past November 8, 2023, during his opening remarks in an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. 

“I also want to express my frustration that just this morning, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that it would again delay the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 261, despite the director testifying before this committee one week ago that “All systems are go” to hold the lease sale on November 8. BOEM is once again blaming the courts for delaying the sale, but the delays are entirely the Administration’s fault. The Department of the Interior was so eager to meet the demands of environmental groups to restrict the sale that it bypassed important legal requirements leading to this litigation,” said Chairman Manchin.