The federal government is opening 73 million acres offshore from Alabama and other Gulf Coast states to oil and gas exploration and development, the Department of the Interior announced Monday.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said the department will offer leases on all available unleased areas in federal waters off Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Florida at its Aug. 16 auction. The sale is the first in a five-year program that will including two auctions per year.

"Opening more federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling is a pillar of President Trump's plan to make the United States energy independent," Zinke said. "The Gulf is a vital part of that strategy to spur economic opportunities for industry, states and local communities to create jobs and home-grown energy and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

The Department of Interior estimates the region included in the auction is expected to produce as many as 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of gas. The leases are divided up into more than 13,000 blocks, located from 3 to 230 miles off shore.

The current lease would require bidders to protect "biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region."

The auction, the first by the Trump administration, is in keeping with efforts by the Obama administration to develop oil and gas resources in the area. The latest plan was met with praise from Republicans.

"I wholeheartedly applaud newly confirmed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for announcing an oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico as one of his first actions as secretary," Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said in a statement. "Offshore energy production is a vital component to truly unleashing the American Energy Renaissance."