"US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced that the Department would offer 75.9 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development," the release stated on Thursday.
The region includes offshore along the US states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, the release noted.
The lease sale is scheduled for August 16 and marks the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s Five-Year National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
Trump’s agenda as president includes rolling back Obama-era regulations that limited oil industry developments in a broad effort to protect the environment. Trump is devoted to creating energy independence in the United States as a means to strengthen national security and to improve the US economy.
In April, Trump signed an executive order that directs the Interior Department to conduct a review of the existing five-year program for oil and gas development for the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
