It might not be the most headline-grabbing environmental news, but a recent memo from Fulbright & Jaworski announced that a 2010 BSEE Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL No. 2010-N05) has been vacated as the result of an appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals by the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). The [...]
Archive for the ‘Offshore Drilling’ Category
30 Mar
Shell a Step Closer to Arctic Drilling
On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior announced approval of Shell’s oil spill response plan for its Arctic drilling plans, another milestone in the oil giant’s years-long efforts to drill in the Arctic. For now, Shell has its eyes on two sites for Arctic drilling. Off the north coast of Alaska lie the shallow waters [...]
29 Mar
All of the Above? NRDC Wants None of It
Quick on the heels of an upbeat Department of the Interior Press Release came an equal-and-opposite reaction from the National Resources Defense Council. The commentary focused on a recently released Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement from DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that evaluates potential significant environmental effects of multiple geological and geophysical “G&G” activities in [...]
17 Jan
Injured On the Job, Offshore
A Mayer Brown Legal Update published late last week discussed the January 11, 2012, Supreme Court Opinion in Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, which held that “an injury is covered by the OCSLA [Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 – 1356] when there is a ‘substantial nexus’ between the injury and extractive [...]
28 Jul
BOEMRE Recusals Show Substantial Agency-Industry Coziness
Some diligent FOIA handiwork by the Associated Press has dug up quantitative confirmation of the ties between the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement and Regulation (BOEMRE) – the federal agency that regulates offshore energy development – and the companies doing the developing. The AP obtained forms submitted by employees of BOEMRE requesting recusal from [...]
16 May
Last Week in Environmental Contingencies and Proceedings Disclosure – Oil and Gas Extraction Industry Edition!
As we’ve posted in the past, public companies must generally disclose material legal proceedings in their annual and quarterly reports to the SEC. Today we’ve pulled some disclosures of environmental liabilities from companies in the Oil and Gas Extraction Industry. We did this by limiting our search on the knowledgemosaic SEC filings page to the [...]
23 Feb
BP Oil Spill Continues to Impact Gulf Residents
Though much of the world seems to have moved on from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the struggle continues along the Gulf of Mexico. Last week, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) announced its final rules governing payment options and final payment methodology after receiving more than 1,440 comments from individuals and businesses. These [...]
13 Sep
Oil industry feeling pinched all over
Proposed tax break reductions and new offshore safety rules are making players in the oil industry look like job-saving martyrs in the news this week. Take away oil and gas tax deductions, and you’ll be taking away 154,000 U.S. jobs, says a recent report commissioned by the non-profit but conservatively-connected American Energy Alliance. Joseph Mason, [...]
8 Sep
Offshore regulation reform
The U.S. Department of the Interior today released a report by the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Safety Oversight Board reviewing offshore oil and gas oversight and regulation. The report included recommendations “to strengthen permitting, inspections, enforcement and environmental stewardship,” which were handed off to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE). According [...]
