The Trump administration is offering companies the chance to drill for oil and natural gas under a Louisiana Air Force base at an auction later this week, according to Interior Department documents.
The auction for the leases to drill on nearly 2,000 acres that lie under Barksdale Air Force Base comes as the Trump administration has cited national security concerns as a reason to halt construction of the offshore wind power farms along the East Coast. The lease sale for the Louisiana acreage that the Bureau of Land Management will hold Thursday would allow interested companies 10 years to drill from inside the base’s 12,000-acre forested eastern half or to access the potential deposits using horizontal drilling from outside the base.
Lawmakers approached by POLITICO said they had no idea Interior was offering access to a military base for drilling and said the idea raised questions for them.
“Where all the B-52s are?” Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and former naval officer and astronaut who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Environment & Public Works committees replied when asked about the Barksdale AFB oil lease sale.
