The Latest: 4 federal oil lease protesters arrested
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Latest on oil and gas lease sale (all times local):
11:45 a.m.
An attorney says four protesters opposed to federal oil lease sales have been arrested at the suburban New Orleans building where the leasing agency has its offices.
The protesters want an end to all new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. They say such drilling threatens coastal Louisiana by contributing to climate change.
A Jefferson Parish sheriff's captain had told the group they'd be arrested for trespassing if they remained on the privately owned property after one member of the group was allowed inside to deliver a petition.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has scheduled a lease sale Wednesday for 23.5 million acres off of Texas.
The four protesters had said they'd stay until they got a response from President Barak Obama, or until they were arrested.
Obama planned a Tuesday afternoon visit to survey flood damage in the Baton Rouge area.
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11:10 a.m.
A protester has been allowed to deliver a petition against a planned federal oil lease sale to an employee of the responsible agency, but about a dozen other protesters were kept out of the building.
A Jefferson Parish sheriff's captain told the group Tuesday morning they'd be arrested if they remained on the leased private property.
Protesters say they gathered 184,000 electronic signatures on an online petition opposing any future oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has scheduled a lease sale Wednesday for 23.5 million acres off of Texas.
Four protesters say they'll stay until they get a response from President Barak Obama, or until they're arrested.
Obama has an afternoon visit planned to view flood damage in the Baton Rouge area.
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9:45 a.m.
About a dozen protesters with a petition to stop a federal oil lease sale were not allowed into a suburban New Orleans building leased by the agency which will run Wednesday's sale.
Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies barred the way Tuesday, saying the building is privately owned and the owner did not want the demonstrators inside.
The protesters say they're trying to exercise their First Amendment right to express their views and petition the government.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold a lease sale Wednesday in New Orleans on 23.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico off of Texas coast.
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3:06 a.m.
Five months after protesters disrupted an oil and gas lease sale for tracts in the Gulf of Mexico, the government is livestreaming a sale while closing the site in New Orleans where bids are read.
Spokeswoman Caryl Fagot (fuh-GOH) says the demonstration in March contributed to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's decision to close the site while livestreaming Wednesday's sale.
But she says it's not the only reason. The bureau has been holding its lease renewals entirely online for several years, and has been looking at livestreaming for a while, to broaden the audience.
Wednesday's sale will offer 23.5 million acres off of Texas.
Last year's sale was the smallest ever for that area. Five companies bid on 33 tracts for a total of $22.7 million in high bids. Each tract drew one bid.