Interior secretary announces new pro-energy plan for offshore oil and gas

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently issued a Secretary order to replace the Biden administration’s 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (10th National Program), with a new plan that would greatly expand the number of lease sales.

The 10th National Program, put in place under the Biden administration, provided the fewest sales that the Department had ever proposed, with only three lease sales in the Gulf of America and no sales in Alaska. 

The new proposal, the 2026–2031 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program 11th National Program, includes up to 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of the 27 existing planning areas, an area that covers about 1.27 billion acres.

Ensuring frequent, consistent, and predictable lease sales is essential to maintaining a robust and reliable oil and gas industry in the United States. The lease regime under the Biden administration made it difficult for companies to plan and invest.

Between the previous leasing program and the weaponization of environmental laws to slow down the development of energy projects, developers have been missing this predictability in recent years. Limiting the development of new resources in this way can  lead to higher prices, just as wider development should result in lower prices. 

It is essential that Americans are free to utilize our abundant natural resources, and the responsible stewardship of offshore oil and gas leases is an essential component of that. Without our own robust supply of oil and natural gas, the United States would be more dependent on the whims and policies of other nations. For example, OPEC+ countries consistently work together to manipulate prices and control supply. Expanding our domestic production helps to insulate the US from this manipulation.

The proposed 11th National Program would be far better for American energy production than the previous plan and would help to insulate the US from these price manipulations, as well as from effects  from other global events, whether that be war, natural disasters, or something else that would increase prices by reducing supplies.

Our economy and lives depend on reliable and affordable energy. Oil and gas leasing should reflect that reality.

The proposal was published today in the Federal Register and  has a 60-day public comment period, with comments due on January 23, 2026.