Today, the Department of the Interior released their finalized Five-Year Plan for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program from 2017-2022. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released the following statement:

“The Arctic has become nothing more than a prop for the President’s legacy. He has ignored pleas from Generals, national security experts and Native Alaskan communities for responsible energy development. Today’s plan will chart a path of energy dependency for decades to come. We should be building on our position as a global energy leader, but we are punting it to Russia as Obama appeases the environmentalists pulling his strings. The American people are sick and tired of being ignored by a President who has never stepped foot on the North Slope.”

When the draft OCS lease plan was released in January 2015, it contained the lowest number of sales since the program’s inception. With the withdrawal of Atlantic and Arctic leases, it has reached new, historic lows.

On April 15, 2015, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an oversight hearing on the Obama administration’s restrictive offshore leasing plan. On April 23, 2015, Chairman Bishop, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and 161 Senate and House members sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to increase access to acreage in the OCS.