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ARTICLE · 13 APRIL 2021

The Biden Administration's Undoing Project Continues — A Flawed Interior Interpretation Is Jettisoned

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On Friday, the Principal Deputy Solicitor at the Department of Interior issued a memorandum on how DOI should balance the criteria in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in issuing leases...

United StatesEnvironment
Seth Jaffe
Seth Jaffe
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On Friday, the Principal Deputy Solicitor at the Department of Interior issued a memorandum on how DOI should balance the criteria in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in issuing leases for offshore wind.  The new memorandum replaces one issued by the Trump Administration following the November election.

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The Trump Administration memorandum, which could have simply been titled the "We Hate Offshore Wind Memorandum," basically treated each of the criteria in the statute as vetoes, requiring the DOE Secretary not to grant leases if any one of the criteria in isolation was not met.  The new memorandum rightly makes clear that it is the Secretary's right and obligation to balance the various statutory criteria.

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