BRIDGE Act: 26 Offshore Oil Leases Mandated by 2035, Environmental Reviews Fast-Tracked, Legal Challenges Curtailed

A new piece of legislation, the "Bringing Reliable Investment into Domestic Gulf Energy Production Act of 2025," or the "BRIDGE Production Act," is looking to significantly reshape offshore oil and gas leasing. At its heart, this bill, which acknowledges President Trump's Executive Order 14156 on domestic energy, mandates the Secretary of the Interior to conduct at least 26 new offshore oil and gas lease sales within the next 10 years. This includes 20 sales in the Gulf of Mexico and 6 in Alaska's Cook Inlet Planning Area, all on top of any sales already planned under the existing Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The first sales are slated to happen as early as August 31, 2025, with a packed schedule running through March 2035.

More Leases, Less Oversight?

The BRIDGE Act isn't just about more sales; it's about how these sales happen. For each Gulf of Mexico sale, a minimum of 80 million acres must be offered (or all unleased acres if less is available), and 1 million acres for each Cook Inlet sale (Sec. 3). The bill also tweaks the financial side, setting royalty rates for these new leases between 12.5% and 18%. It even introduces a pilot program where up to 25 leaseholders could get a reduced royalty rate of 10% for the first seven years if they start production within three years of getting the lease – a clear nudge to get oil and gas flowing faster. Here's a biggie: Section 4 aims to streamline environmental reviews for lease sales held within two years of the last one mandated by this bill. It essentially says that existing environmental impact statements and biological opinions (like those for Gulf Lease Sales 259 and 261) are good enough to meet requirements under major environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This could mean less fresh environmental scrutiny for these specific new sales.

Fast-Tracking Future Drilling and Limiting Challenges

The bill doesn't stop there. It significantly changes how future offshore leasing programs are managed and how legal challenges are handled. Section 6 amends the OCSLA to require the Interior Secretary to approve new 5-year leasing programs 120 days before the old one expires. If the Secretary misses this deadline? A default schedule kicks in, mandating annual sales in the Gulf and Alaska. Crucially, these default sales wouldn't require new environmental analyses under NEPA, relying instead on the older documents referenced in Section 4. Starting January 1, 2035, Section 7 mandates that any approved 5-year leasing program must include at least 15 offshore lease sales. If a court finds a program doesn't meet this, a stringent replacement schedule is triggered with 10 sales in the Gulf and 5 in Alaska over five years. These replacement sales come with even broader exemptions: no additional analysis under NEPA, ESA, or the Coastal Zone Management Act, and no new tribal consultation requirements. The Secretary can even waive rules that might delay these sales.

When it comes to disagreements, Section 5 lays down some new ground rules for lawsuits. If the Secretary misses a lease sale deadline by 10 days, potential bidders can sue. If the court agrees, the sale must happen within 120 days, and a special master can be appointed to make sure it does, with potential fines for the Secretary for non-compliance. There's a tight 30-day window to file such lawsuits. Importantly, even if a court finds a lease sale wasn't compliant, it can't cancel the sale or stop leases from being issued; it can only send the issue back to the Secretary for correction. Plus, anyone trying to delay a sale through legal action might have to put up a security bond. This collection of changes aims to ensure a continuous and expanded schedule of offshore leasing with fewer interruptions from environmental reviews or legal fights.