Last month, the Trump administration published the proposed 11th National Offshore Leasing Program, which will provide 34 new offshore lease sales, including seven in the Gulf of Mexico. The draft proposal is currently open for public comment until Jan. 23, 2026. Lease sales are proposed in “Program Area A” of the proposal, including much of the Alabama coast, every year from 2027 to 2031. On Dec. 10, the Trump administration will hold the first lease sale as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which mandated 36 oil and gas sales in the Gulf and in Cook Inlet in Alaska by 2040. As part of the first sale, 32 three-mile-by-three-mile blocks will be offered for lease just a few miles from the coast of Fort Morgan and the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. A second lease sale will be held in March 2026, when 15,000 lease blocks will be available for lease throughout the Gulf. “A single oil spill is all it takes to devastate the healthy waters and clean beaches. It is not the end...