Interior’s offshore drilling agency issues first environmental justice plan

By Mike Soraghan | 01/13/2025 06:53 AM EST

The BOEM plan, which calls for “equitable outreach,” may not survive the incoming Trump administration.

An oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

An oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Jon Fahey/AP

The federal government’s offshore drilling agency rolled out its environmental justice plan Friday, just in time for a new administration that has been hostile to the concept.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced its first environmental justice implementation plan in a news release emphasizing that “robust, inclusive, and equitable outreach and engagement are vital principles.” BOEM oversees offshore leasing for oil and gas, as well as offshore wind.

The 19-page document includes goals such as institutionalizing environmental justice principles into the culture of the agency and conducting “meaningful” outreach to Indigenous communities before making decisions.

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Environmental justice is the effort to alleviate pollution that takes a disproportionately heavy toll on communities of color and low-income and rural areas. The Biden administration has made it a priority.

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