Trump administration aims to auction offshore oil leases along U.S. coastlines that have been off-limits for decades

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

October 24, 2025 / 9:20 PM EDT / CBS News


The Trump administration is proposing to auction offshore oil drilling leases across new portions of the U.S. coast as soon as 2026, according to internal Department of Interior draft documents viewed by CBS News. New leases would include waters off New England, the Carolinas and California.

Offshore oil leases are common along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, as well as parts of Alaska, but there are currently no active oil leases on the Atlantic coast, and California has not had a new oil lease since 1984.

This comes as the Department of Interior formally announced plans this week to reopen 1.56 million aces in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, reversing a Biden administration decision to limit oil drilling in the Arctic.

That decision drew a strong rebuke from Democrats, including Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who accused the administration of rewarding the fossil fuel industry for its support of the president. "This decision is not about energy dominance—it's about donor dominance," Markey said in a statement. "The Trump administration must immediately reverse its shortsighted decision. The Arctic Refuge is not for sale."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-offshore-oil-leases-us-coastlines/

---

RELATED - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143552457

[Buddyzbuddy]

1. This from the guy that was whining about wind turbines off the east coast.

The blight of oil derricks and the stink of oil coming in with the ocean breeze is much better. Not to mention the environmental hazard.

[Bayard]

2. Shocking

Blue New England and Calif., purple NC. More revenge politics.

[kimbutgar]

3. I predict those states will sue and he won't get his way

[slightlv]

5. I hope you're right... because I see this as a "hill" to die on.

We're killing species by the score. Completely obliterating them. But the Earth is made of interconnecting networks... from bugs to plants and their roots, to every specifies of animal. We are all interconnected. It has to stop. We must protect the natural world in all its forms. I'll admit I'm more prone to speak out loudly and angrily when it comes to plants and animals... but even sequestering the fossil fuel underground is important for our well being. That these greed heads can't wrap their money driven minds around this is a huge problem we must change. Taking care of our most vulnerable doesn't just mean babies and we older people. It's the plants that have no movement, the animals that can't speak for themselves. And to make it worse, I'm afraid the whole thing would fall under trump's "diversity" avoidance.

[C Moon]

4. trump is hating Newsom sooooo much.