Monroe County News

As surging gas prices are causing Pennsylvania consumers to pay more at the pump, a federal judge recently issued a decision to block offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to a report from AAA, inflation and global tensions continue to be factors in the price of oil, leading to a trend of rising gasoline prices with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

According to the current AAA Gas Price report, areas in the Western United States are experiencing some of the highest retail gas prices in the country. The state of Pennsylvania in particular is seeing weekly price increases. The current average price for regular gas is $3.61 per gallon; the average for mid-grade is $3.93 per gallon; the average for premium is $4.20 per gallon; and the average for diesel is $4.11 per gallon.

A January article from the Wall Street Journal lays out a major decision for offshore drilling made by an Obama-appointed federal judge. Judge Rudolph Contreras blocked the 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.

Contreras said that regulators of the U.S. Department of the Interior “used flawed environmental analysis” in their federal oil-and-gas leasing program efforts during the Trump administration.

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 to Wall Street Journal. 

According to CNN News, in November 2021, President Joe Biden reopened oil and gas leasing throughout the Gulf of Mexico – 80 million acres which the Biden administration had banned from drilling in January of 2021 – after a Louisiana judge blocked the halt in June. At the time, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the ruling was "not aligned with our view" or Biden's policies, and the Department of Justice is appealing the ruling.

Melissa Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, said 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.”