The Big Story 

Chevron, the state of Louisiana and the American Petroleum Association sued an Interior Department agency for narrowing a Gulf of Mexico lease sale to protect endangered whales.

© Getty

Litigants argued that the amended lease, which removed about six million acres from the sale, would violate the text of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a provision requiring the full lease sale in September.

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reduced the size of the sale with the aim of protecting the endangered Rice’s whale — only about 50 of which are left in the Gulf. About one-fifth of the Gulf’s Rice’s whale population were killed in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

“Despite Congress’ clear intention in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration has announced a ‘lease sale in name only’ that removes approximately 6 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico from the sale and adds new and unjustified restrictions on oil and natural gas vessels operating in this area, ignoring all other vessel traffic,” API senior vice president and general counsel Ryan Meyers said in a statement.

Read more in the full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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Essential Reads 

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

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White House now says Biden didn’t hear wildfire question that sparked ‘no comment’ response

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In Other News 

Branch out with a different read on The Hill:

Hawaii officials say 388 people still unaccounted for after Maui wildfires

Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for on Maui more than two weeks after fast-moving wildfires erupted on the island, devastating portions of the area. Maui County on Thursday released a validated list of 388 names compiled by the FBI of those who have been reported missing and remain unaccounted for after the Lahaina blazes.

What We’re Reading 

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

• “Brutal” heat wave brings triple-digit temperatures from Chicago to New Orleans (Axios)
  
  

• Refinery fire and smoke plume force evacuations in Louisiana town (The Washington Post)

   

• Appeals court upholds regional haze plans for Wyoming coal plants (WyoFile)
  
  

• Draft environmental study on Dakota Access pipeline expected in fall, US Army Corps of Engineers says (Reuters)
  
  

• Republicans take aim at the ‘next Solyndra.’ Will voters care? (E&E News)

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

GOP talk of military action in Mexico sparks dire warnings

Rising GOP support for the U.S. taking unilateral military action in Mexico against drug cartels is increasingly rattling people on both sides of the border who worry talk of an attack is getting normalized. Read more

Conservative pop culture is having a moment

The first GOP debate of the 2024 presidential primary season began on Fox News this week with an unusual prompt: a clip of a low-budget country song from an artist who had no public name recognition as of three weeks ago.  Read more

Opinions in The Hill 

Op-ed related to energy & environment submitted to The Hill: