Environmental activist groups sued the Trump administration for its decision to move forward with a planned December 10 offshore oil and gas lease sale covering 80 million acres (32 million hectares) in the Gulf of Mexico, they said on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges a major sale that aligns with President Donald Trump's policy of maximizing domestic oil and gas development.
"Opening 80 million acres in the Gulf is a recipe for more spills, more carbon pollution, and more damage to coastal communities and marine life," added Irene Gutierrez, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The December 10 sale is the first of 30 sales in the Gulf of Mexico through 2040 that were included in Trump's tax law, which he signed in July.
The lawsuit alleges that the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management broke the law by failing to conduct an environmental review specifically for the upcoming lease sale.
It also alleges that BOEM's August environmental analysis of oil and gas activities in the gulf, which Trump renamed the Gulf of America, was insufficient because it did not adequately consider impacts on the endangered Rice's whale and gulf communities and the risks of oil spills.
The suing groups include Healthy Gulf, Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and NRDC.
An interior department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on litigation.
The groups are asking the court to halt the lease sale until BOEM complies with requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Rod Nickel)