Today, the Department of the Interior’s Lease Sale 247 for oil and gas parcels in the Gulf of Mexico brought in over $274 million for over 900,000 acres in the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:

“Finally, we are taking advantage of our vast natural resources offshore. For years we witnessed the prior administration deliberatively cancel or limit lease sales and use a lack of industry interest as the excuse. With a new administration that is open to responsible development, we are seeing a strong indication of the exact opposite – a private sector eager to unleash domestic production and competitive investment in our federal lands.”