Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in a press release that it will auction off more than 38 million acres of waters in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to oil and gas drilling companies, showing, according to U.S. News & World Report, that the Obama Administration is committed to domestic energy resources.

The auction is scheduled to take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans in March, reports the source. The government estimates that the area could produce up to 1 million barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

In November 2012, the Obama Administration generated nearly $134 million in bids when it leased sale of 20 million acres of water in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Obama Administration is fully committed to developing our domestic energy resources to create jobs, foster economic opportunities and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” said U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar in a press statement. “Exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s vital energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”

Nevertheless, critics say that the Department of the Interior isn’t doing enough when it comes to domestic energy, noting that there are untapped resources off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that could create even more jobs and bring in hundreds of billions of dollars.

The auction will ultimately mean job creation in the oil and gas industry, a lucrative but dangerous field with its own unique set of risks. Workers often put in long hours at isolated locations miles from shore, and no matter what kind of precautions are in place, accidents can happen. That being said, many offshore project managers turn to marine insurance providers with years of valuable experience that can help them find the best rates and ensure that they are covered in the event of an accident.

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