"In December, the Interior Department will hold the first oil and natural-gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since last year’s massive oil spill that devastated the region."
"Republicans and drill-state Democrats have long pressed the Obama administration to hold lease sales in the region, arguing that new domestic drilling will be a boon to the economy.
The Dec. 14 lease sale in the western Gulf represents a first step toward new drilling in the region under a series of beefed-up safety and environmental standards imposed by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) in recent months."
Andrew Restuccia reports for The Hill's E2 Wire August 19, 2011.