Where do your elected officials stand on offshore drilling?

Introduction

Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), a presidential administration has the authority to issue new offshore oil and gas leases in federal waters through a process that is managed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). This process of leasing federal waters for oil and gas extraction occurs according to a five-year leasing program.  The Biden Administration issued the Decision Memo and Record of Decision for the 10th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program in 2023. This plan is currently active, and it scheduled three lease sales for the Gulf of Mexico between 2024 and 2029.

On April 18, 2025, the Trump Administration announced that it would begin the process to establish a new offshore oil and gas leasing program, which will replace the existing program and establish the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The current status of the 11th national offshore drilling plan can be found on BOEM’s leasing page.

Scope

This tool evaluates the position of current members of the U.S. Congress with respect to the issuance of new offshore oil and gas leases in federal waters. The tool will help the public learn about relevant OCS-related legislative activities by congressional members and find out where individual members of Congress stand on these issues. The tool summarizes member activity occurring over three Congresses and condenses it into an easy-to-interpret metric; the tool also encourages advocacy by providing member contact information and suggested talking points based on a member’s position.

Methods

We recorded congressional participation in legislative activities with a primary direct nexus to offshore oil and gas leasing in federal waters throughout the 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses (which is still ongoing). We assigned a designation to each legislative activity based on the overall support or opposition to new offshore drilling and the geographical extent of the activity. Member positions were assigned based on the designations of the legislative activities in which they participated.

Legislative activities that are recorded in this tool (“Recorded Legislative Activities”) include:

1. Official Comments: We included all comments submitted to the U.S. Department of the Interior by members of Congress that reflect their support or opposition to the Biden administration issuing new offshore oil and gas leases.
2. Letters: We included all letters written by members of Congress that reflect their support or opposition to a presidential administration issuing new offshore oil and gas leases.
3. Bills: We included all bills in the 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses relevant to new offshore oil and gas leasing.
4. Votes: We included all floor votes in the 117th, 118th, and 119th Congresses relevant to new offshore oil and gas leasing legislation. We also included committee votes beginning in the 119th Congress.

The tool does not record state legislation, social media, statements, floor speeches, or bills that do not concern new offshore oil and gas leasing.

Legislative activity designations:

1. Opposes all new offshore drilling This activity expresses opposition to or prevents all new offshore oil and gas leasing (or drilling) in federal waters. In light of the IRA, this does not need to necessarily include opposition to lease sales only or leasing of areas with minor potential oil and gas production.
2. Opposes new offshore drilling regionally This activity expresses opposition to or prevents new offshore oil and gas leasing off one or more U.S. coasts, one or more regions, or a grouping of states, but does not oppose new offshore oil and gas leasing in all federal waters. If, for example, members oppose new leasing along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts but have not signed on to a bill or letter opposing new leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, they are deemed as opposing new offshore oil and gas lease sales regionally.
3. Opposes new offshore drilling off state This activity expresses opposition to or prevents new offshore oil and gas leasing off the coast of only one state.
4. Supports all new offshore drillingThis activity expresses support for new federal oil and gas lease sales or leasing off all U.S. coasts.
5. Supports new offshore drilling regionally This activity expresses support for new offshore oil and gas leasing off one or more U.S. coasts, one or more regions, or a grouping of states, but does not support new offshore oil and gas leasing in all federal waters.
6. Supports new offshore drilling off state This activity expresses support for new offshore oil and gas leasing off the coast of only one state.
7. Has not taken a position on new offshore drilling Our research found no evidence that this member of Congress engaged in any Recorded Legislative Activities (for what this includes, see Methods section). 

Determination of member positions:

We determined an individual’s position on new offshore oil and gas leasing by evaluating the designations of that individual's legislative activities over the time period of interest (117th–119th Congresses, to date). When support or opposition toward offshore leasing was clear (i.e., all activities either supported or opposed), the member position was determined by the activity with the greatest geographic impact. For example, a member that cosponsored two bills designated “Opposes New Offshore Drilling Regionally” and signed on to a letter designated “Opposes All New Offshore Drilling”, was assigned the position “Opposes All New Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing.”

If an individual’s actions both supported and opposed new offshore leasing, we used the position and geographical extent of the most recent activity to determine their final position.

Activities scored

119th Congress

118th Congress

117th Congress