By Nichola Groom

(Reuters) – Wednesday’s auction of oil drilling rights in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico will be held by the Biden administration. This is just days after it joined a worldwide agreement which for the first times targeted fossil fuels, as they are the primary driver of global warming.

According to President Joe Biden’s promise to stop federal land development, the Department of Interior sold the sale. Biden won a legal battle to the oil-producing state that sued to restore sales.

Environmental groups are suing to stop the sale. The administration appealed. The U.S. will hold auctions for lease contracts in several US states beginning next year.

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is set to auction nearly all unleased Gulf of Mexico blocks (80 million acres) at an event that will be streamed live on Wednesday morning.

This will be the first chance to gauge the demand of the Gulf oil and gas industries for acreage, with energy prices near multi-year highs. On Tuesday, futures closed at $80.76/barrel. That’s an increase of 95% over the past 12 months.

Trump’s last Gulf sale was held in November 2017. It generated $121 million from high-bidders. Royal Dutch Shell, BP and others are still oil companies. Chevron (NYSE: ) take advantage of higher prices in order to finance offshore projects.

Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz stated that despite the court order to resume auctions, the agency is “conducting an even more thorough analysis of greenhouse gases impacts from possible oil and gas leasing sales than ever before.”

Biden was asked by environmentalists to stop the executive order sale. “Biden has the authority to stop this, but instead he’s casting his lot in with the fossil fuel industry,” said Kristen Monsell, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Ocean conservation group Oceana said the administration should “explore every opportunity to uphold the president’s commitment to protecting our communities, our climate, and our economy from the threat of drilling.”