US to auction Gulf of Mexico oil under climate compromise

The Biden administration is auctioning oil and gas leases across more than 114,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico in a sale mandated by last year's climate bill. Wednesday's Department of Interior auction could further test the loyalty of environmentalists and young voters frustrated by this month’s approval of the huge Willow drilling project in northern Alaska. The Gulf of Mexico leases cover an area the size of Arizona. Developing them could produce more than 1 billion barrels of oil over 50 years. Burning that crude would increase emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide by tens of millions of tons.