Inflation Reduction Act ties renewable energy projects to more oil lease sales – By Shannon Longworth (Straight Arrow News) / Aug 16, 2023
Touted by the Environmental Protection Agency as “the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history,” the Inflation Reduction Act also contains a variety of concessions to Big Oil companies. Buried within the legislation is a set of provisions that ties the advancement of some future renewable energy projects to increased American oil and gas production.
“So buried very deeply in there is this provision for any further offshore wind lease, granting that 60 million acres of offshore lands must be offered for offshore oil and gas development,” Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf said. “That has the potential of almost doubling our current amount of offshore oil and gas drilling. So, in order to get more offshore wind, we’re going to have to allow more offshore oil and gas drilling, which we have fought for decades since we started.”
As a prerequisite for issuing any offshore wind leases, the law stipulates that the Department of the Interior must have held a lease sale for offshore oil totaling at least 60 million acres in the previous year. This requirement is set to remain in place throughout the 10 year lifespan of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The average offshore lease is about 100,000 acres or so,” Zipf said. “S
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