Appeals court forces Biden admin to hold offshore oil lease sale without eco restrictions | 14 Nov 2023 | A federal appeals court panel ruled in favor of energy industry groups in an order Tuesday evening requiring the Biden administration to hold a massive offshore oil and gas lease sale without eco restrictions. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the decision that the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) must move forward with Lease Sale 261, a large Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale mandated under the Inflation Reduction Act. The sale was originally scheduled for September, but was postponed after BOEM implemented last-minute environmental restrictions. The ruling Tuesday upholds a lower court decision which struck down the federal government's late modification of Lease Sale 261.