A federal appeals court has delayed the sale of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases, which was scheduled for November 8, due to ongoing court arguments centered around protections for an endangered whale species. The Biden administration initially announced the sale in March and set it for September, but in August, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) reduced the available acreage for leases from 73 million acres to 67 million acres as part of an effort to protect the endangered Rice's whale. The changes also included new speed limits and personnel requirements on industry vessels in certain areas to be leased.

However, oil and gas companies, including Chevron, Shell Offshore, and the American Petroleum Institute, along with the state of Louisiana, filed a lawsuit to reverse the reduction in acreage and block the inclusion of whale-protecting measures in the lease sale provisions. They argued that these actions violated provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 climate legislation that aimed to provide incentives for clean energy while creating new drilling opportunities in the Gulf.

A federal judge in southwest Louisiana initially ordered the sale to proceed at its original scale without the whale protections, prompting an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court initially allowed the sale to be postponed to November 8 to give the administration more time to prepare. However, on Thursday, a different panel of the court stayed that order and scheduled a hearing on the case for November 13.

The uncertainty surrounding the court proceedings has left it unclear whether BOEM will delay the sale further, proceed with the full 73 million acres as originally planned, or opt for the scaled-back sale. As of Friday evening, the notice of the November 8 sale was still on the BOEM website, with agency lawyers reviewing Thursday's ruling.

Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate's energy committee have weighed in on the matter. Senator John Barrasso, the ranking Republican on the committee, stated that there is no reason for more last-minute changes and unnecessary delays, asserting that the November 8 sale should proceed. On the other hand, Senator Joe Manchin, the committee chairman and a key player in the passage of the climate bill, criticized the Biden administration's handling of the lease sale, describing it as a "complete mess." Manchin expressed his belief that the sale should proceed even if the government needs to withdraw from the whale protection settlement.

The delay of the lease sale comes amid ongoing criticism of the Biden administration's energy policies from both the energy industry and environmentalists. The administration has been navigating competing interests as it aims to balance clean energy goals with the need for continued offshore drilling opportunities. The administration's recently announced five-year plan includes three proposed sales in the Gulf of Mexico, the minimum number required to support offshore wind development under the 2022 climate bill.