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BOEMNonrulemakingBOEM-2025-0015

Request for Information (RFI) and Comments on the Preparation of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program

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Last modified
Jul 29, 2025
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closed 407d ago
Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filings
1

Activity

Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed 1 comment on this docket between Jun 27, 2025 and Jun 27, 2025. 63 other organizations filed here. The comment window closed 407d ago.

What Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed (1)

Jun 27, 2025· Comment from Southern Environmental Law Center· BOEM-2025-0015-35236

The Southern Environmental Law Center ("SELC") submits these comments on behalf of Healthy Ocean Coalition, One Hundred Miles, North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, Ocean Defense Initiative, Ocean Natural Farm, Virginia Conservation Network, North Carolina Conservation Network, Glynn Environmental Coalition, Lynnhaven River NOW, Ocean Conservation Research, Birds Georgia, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, Surfrider Foundation, Charleston Waterkeeper, Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Third Act Georgia, Altamaha Riverkeeper, Satilla Riverkeeper, Center for a Sustainable Coast, North Carolina Coastal Federation, Audubon North Carolina, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Carolina Ocean Alliance, Save Sledge Forest, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Wild Cumberland, Sierra Club, Brunswick County Conservation Partnership, Georgia Conservation Voters, Buxton Civic Association, Science for Georgia, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Savannah Riverkeeper, National Parks Conservation Association, Oceana, Conservation Voters of South Carolina, the Sustainability Institute, Georgia WAND Education Fund, Friends of Coastal South Carolina, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, GRITS Broadband, Winyah Rivers Alliance, Next 100 Coalition, and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, regarding the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's ("BOEM") Request for Information on the Preparation of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program ("11th National OCS Program"). Our organizations and the hundreds of thousands of members we represent in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia would be directly affected by oil and gas activities in the Mid- and South Atlantic Planning Areas and are strongly opposed to the substantial threat that dirty offshore oil and gas drilling poses to our natural resources, coastal economies, and local communities. That is why our organizations, local communities, and coastal leaders have consistently opposed proposals to open areas of the Outer Continental Shelf ("OCS") to offshore drilling and seismic activities, and why we urge you to exclude the Atlantic Planning Areas from the 11th National OCS Program. While we broadly object to the expansion of oil and gas activities in all areas of the OCS, these comments focus on the Mid- and South Atlantic Planning Areas. Opening areas of the Atlantic OCS to offshore drilling and seismic activities poses a direct threat to the fragile and unique ecosystems of the Southeast coast, our region's ocean economy, and the millions of people whose livelihoods depend on our valuable, clean coastal resources. As the world learned during the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and more recently during the Garden Island Bay oil spill, there is no such thing as safe offshore oil drilling. Every oil spill starts with a lease, and there is no guarantee of quick or easy cleanup once a significant spill occurs. Coastal communities in Alabama and other Gulf states are already being harmed by the negative impacts of current offshore oil and gas development, including harms to commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism, water quality, wildlife, and climate change. We urge the administration to focus on addressing these existing harms rather than creating new risks for countless communities in Atlantic and Eastern Gulf states. U.S. energy needs can and should be met in safer, cleaner ways.

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Abstract

The 10th National OCS Program, for 2024 to 2029, was approved on December 14, 2023, and went into effect on July 1, 2024. BOEM is soliciting information on the preparation of a new, 11th National OCS Program to, upon completion, replace the 10th Program. The Federal Register Notice can be found here: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-07479

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Co-filers (63)

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