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The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday for oil and gas drilling rights. Why did the Biden administration hold an auction for fossil fuel drilling, on the heels of COP26, where countries agreed to “phase down” fossil fuels?

Gulf of Mexico oil drilling lease sale

The lease sale generated $192 million in high bids from 33 companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron for 308 tracts covering 1.7 million acres – 2,700 square miles – in federal waters, according to BOEM.

The Associated Press notes, “It marked the largest acreage and second-highest bid total since Gulf-wide bidding resumed in 2017.”

How did we get here?

On January 27, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that imposed a moratorium on all new oil and gas leases on federal land and water.


Read more: Biden just made more big announcements on energy and climate


In June, a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration’s executive order. The legal block came after attorneys general from 13 Republican states, led by Louisiana, challenged the moratorium.

The other 12 states were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

US District Judge Terry Doughty wrote in June:

The omission of any rational explanation in canceling the lease sales, and in enacting the Pause, results in this Court ruling that Plaintiff States also have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of this claim.

Rational explanations that Judge Doughty overlooked are the climate emergency and the destruction of the environment.

And the BOEM made it clear in its statement yesterday that the administration is not in favor this sale:

Today’s sale was consistent with a US District Court’s preliminary injunction, while the government appeals the decision.

The Biden-Harris administration is continuing its comprehensive review of its offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programs and initiating reforms.

Moving forward, BOEM will use updated greenhouse gas emission models to take substitution impacts and foreign oil consumption into account, resulting in the most robust projections ever of the climate impacts of offshore lease sales, as well as analyzing the social cost of carbon to better understand the true impacts of fossil fuel leasing decisions.

Earthjustice attorney Brettny Hardy, who is representing environmental groups challenging Wednesday’s sale in federal court, said:

It’s basically a giveaway to industry of millions of acres of the Gulf of Mexico so they can lock in production for years, at a time when we need to be shifting away from fossil fuel development.

Electrek’s Take

The lease sale is a huge disappointment, and the timing, immediately following the crucial global negotiations at COP26 in Glasgow to keep global warming to 1.5C, is pretty embarrassing for the US.

But what other choice does the Biden administration have but to abide by the law?

The administration is going to have to build a sharp case to reinstate the executive order and stop the drilling for fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo: “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – Gulf of Mexico” by Kris Krug is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0


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Rageh Omaar says he was ‘determined to finish presenting programme’ after becoming unwell live on air

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Rageh Omaar says he was 'determined to finish presenting programme' after becoming unwell live on air

ITV News broadcaster Rageh Omaar has said he was “determined to finish presenting the programme” after returning home following hospital treatment.

Viewers expressed concern about the 56-year-old presenter after he appeared to fall “unwell” live on air during News At Ten on Friday night.

In a statement shared by ITV News, Omaar said: “I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and good wishes, especially all the medical staff, all my wonderful colleagues at ITV News, and our viewers who expressed concern.

“At the time, I was determined to finish presenting the programme. I am grateful for all the support I’ve been given.”

An ITV News spokesperson said he was recovering at home with his family following medical treatment at a hospital.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report

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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider - report

A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.

Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.

It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.

Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.

Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.

The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.

A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.

The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.

“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.

“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”

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Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.

Read more:
Injuries after explosion at Iraq military base
UK soldiers ‘exposed’ to toxic chemical in Iraq must get answers

In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.

After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.

But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.

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R Kelly loses appeal to overturn 20-year sentence for child sex abuse

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R Kelly loses appeal to overturn 20-year sentence for child sex abuse

R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court. 

The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.

He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.

The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.

He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.

Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.

The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.

Read more on Sky News:
Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
Actress Emma Stone says she ‘would like to be’ called by her real name

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In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.

“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.

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