Angry oil industry sues U.S. over new Gulf auction rules meant to protect whale

The Biden administration’s proposed new restrictions on oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico have sparked outrage from the oil industry, which sees the move as an unjustified assault on fossil fuel producers that threatens to restrict U.S. energy production.

The American Petroleum Institute, the state of Louisiana and Chevron filed a lawsuit this week in federal court after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released its final notice for next month’s Gulf of Mexico federal lease auction, which surprised energy officials by including new restrictions on development meant to protect the endangered Rice’s whale.