North Vegas Times

A federal judge recently issued a decision to block offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico while Nevada consumers continue to pay more at the gas pump.

The price of gasoline is on an upwards trend with no signs of slowing down any time soon, according to a report from AAA. Inflation and global tensions continue to be a factor in the price of oil leading to rising gasoline prices. 

Areas of the western United States are experiencing the highest retail gas prices in the country, according to the current AAA Gas Price report. The state of Nevada is seeing weekly price jumps. The current average price for regular gas is $3.86 per gallon; the average for mid-grade is $4.09 per gallon; the average for premium is $4.29 per gallon; and the average for diesel is $3.96 per gallon.

A Jan. 27 article in the Wall Street Journal laid out a major decision for offshore drilling made that day by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who blocked a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on the grounds that climate concerns outweigh government revenue generated from the drilling. The lease was for 80 million acres and was made available from the U.S. Department of Interior.

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, an association that represents offshore wind development and drilling, criticized the judge's decision.

"At a time of geopolitical uncertainty and rapidly rising energy prices, U.S. oil and gas production is more important than ever to curb inflation and to fortify our national security,” Milito said in a statement. 

President Joe Biden reopened oil and gas leasing throughout the Gulf of Mexico in November 2021 — the 80 million acres which the Biden administration had previously banned from drilling in January of 2021, according to CNN. But another federal judge in Louisiana later ruled that the Biden administration could not block lease sales without the approval of Congress, the Journal reported.

In his decision, Conteras said that regulators of the U.S. Department of Interior used flawed environmental analysis in their federal oil-and-gas leasing program efforts during President Trump’s administration, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Melissa Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Department of Interior, said that the department is reviewing the previous decision to reopen drilling. 

“We have documented serious deficiencies in the federal oil and gas program,” Schwartz said in a statement, according to the Journal. “Especially in the face of the climate crisis, we need to take the time to make significant and long overdue programmatic reforms.”