Jan 28, 2026· Comment from Animal Welfare Institute & Defenders of Wildlife· BOEM-2025-0483-4963
Defenders of Wildlife, the Animal Welfare Institute ("AWI"), and 28 other organizations submit the attached comments, and accompanying appendices, regarding the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program. As outlined in our letter, our organizations and our millions of members nationwide would be directly harmed by, and thus strongly oppose, any new leasing in the 11th National OCS Program--especially in the many OCS areas included in the proposed leasing schedule that either are ineligible for leasing because of special protections from offshore energy development or have historically been excluded from leasing due to their unique natural resources and sensitivity to oil and gas activities.