Gulf of Mexico Auction Opens As Biden Compromises On Public Land

The Biden administration is moving ahead today with the controversial online auction of over 114,000 square miles of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico in line with a climate bill compromise that prohibits public land leases for renewable power unless oil and gas gets first dibs on tens of thousands of acres, the Associated Press reports. This is the first such auction in over a year, and will place Joe Biden in the firing line coming off sharp criticism for his approval earlier this month of the Willow drilling project in northern Alaska.…