Circuit Court of Appeals ruling means the lease sale — once set for September, but postponed multiple times amid legal fights — will be held in December. And it must cover 73 million acres (30 million hectares), as originally planned when the administration announced the sale in the spring. The administration later scaled back the area covered by the lease sale to 67 million acres (27 million hectares) as part of an agreement to protect the endangered Rice’s whale. But the state of Louisiana joined oil and gas companies in opposing the changes. The American Petroleum Institute, a powerful U.S. oil and gas industry trade association, lauded the development.

---

Persons: Biden, —, ” George Torgun, Ryan Meyers Organizations: ORLEANS, U.S, Circuit, Industry, Biden, American Petroleum Institute, Energy, Fifth Circuit Locations: Gulf, Mexico, Louisiana