Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged BOEM, Judge Lamberth, Orsted, Revolution Wind, stop work order, supplemental complaint, US Dept. of the Interior on January 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Attached is the supplemental complaint in the lawsuit Revolution Wind, LLC v. United States Department of the Interior, Case No. 1:25-cv-02999-RCL, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Brief history:
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged BOEM, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Department of the Interior, directed suspension, Dominion Energy, law suit on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Dominion’s suit challenging the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind suspension order is attached.
Summary: “BOEM’s order sets forth no rational basis, cannot be reconciled with BOEM’s own regulations and prior issued lease terms and approvals, is arbitrary and capricious, is procedurally deficient, violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”), and infringes upon constitutional principles that limit actions by the Executive Branch. This Court must therefore vacate the Order and enjoin BOEM from taking further action with respect to that Order.”
Key points raised by Dominion:
Dominion’s weakest argument follows (bad State legislation shouldn’t dictate Federal energy policy):
CVOW is critical to Virginia’s legislative clean energy directive and DEV’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions. The VCEA requires the transition of Virginia’s electric grid to 100 percent non-carbon producing energy generation by 2045. Va. Code § 56-585.5. The VCEA also states that the construction of Virginia offshore wind facilities is in the public interest. Va. Code § 56-585.1:11 (C)(1).
Posted in energy policy, Regulation, tagged BBG1, BOEM, BSEE, Kenny Stevens, Lanny Erdos, Leslie Beyer, Matthew Giacona, offshore energy, US Dept. of the Interior on December 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Leslie Beyer, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management (ASLM), has stepped down from her post as the leader of the Dept of the Interior’s offshore energy programs. She was the senior official at this month’s BGG1 lease sale, and made strong remarks about the importance of the offshore oil and gas program. Ms. Beyer was confirmed by the Senate in September.
Lanny Erdos, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, has been named Acting ASLM.
This leaves the offshore energy program without a confirmed Asst. Secretary and with Acting Directors at both BOEM (Matthew Giacona) and BSEE (Kenny Stevens).
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged 5 suspended projects, BOEM, Offshore Wind, suspension letter on December 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Attached is the letter sent to operators of the 5 projects that have been suspended. The cited regulation reads as follows:
§ 585.417 When may BOEM order a suspension?
BOEM may order a suspension under the following circumstances:
(a) When necessary to comply with judicial decrees prohibiting some or all activities under your lease; or
(b) When the suspension is necessary for reasons of national security or defense.
Posted in deep sea mining, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged beach nourishment, BOEM, Great Lakes Dredge Co., marine minerals, Odyssey Marine, phosphate, sand, titanium, Virginia, zirconium on December 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has initiated the process for a potential mineral lease sale in Federal waters off Virginia. BOEM’s action is in response to a request by Odyssey Marine for a critical minerals sale.
Odyssey’s primary targets are phosphate, which is now on the critical minerals list, and rare earth element’s titanium and zirconium. This would be a shelf dredging operation, in partnership with Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, rather than the deepwater module collection being proposed for the Pacific.
The fact that the sand recovered during the dredging process could be used for beach nourishment should appeal to adjacent coastal communities.
Odyssey Marine’s CEO discusses the proposed Virginia offshore program starting at the 4:00 minute mark in the video below.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BOEM, Gulf of America, OCS Sale BBG1, questions answered, sale results on December 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
See the updated comparison table in the previous BOE post.
The questions raised prior to the sale have been answered:
See the sale summary data. The top bidders list is pasted below.
Posted in Offshore Wind, tagged BOEM, Nantucket, SouthCoast Wind, court order, reconsider COP approval, Judge Chutkan on November 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the SouthCoast Wind project was approved during the last week of the Biden Administration. That approval has been challenged by the Town and County of Nantucket. Ocean Wind, a joint venture of EDP Renewables (Portugal) and ENGIE (France), is the leaseholder.
Yesterday, the court issued an order concurring with the Federal government’s request for a voluntary remand of the COP approval. The court decision is attached. The Order concludes as follows:
It is ORDERED that the case be REMANDED to BOEM for reconsideration of its decision and that proceedings in this court are STAYED until further order of the court. It is further ORDERED that, on or before January 3, 2026, and every 60 days thereafter, the parties shall file a joint status report indicating the status of BOEM’s remand proceedings. It is further ORDERED that on or before 30 days following the issuance of a decision by BOEM, the parties shall file a joint status report informing the court if further proceedings are necessary and, if so, providing a proposed schedule for those proceedings.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged BOEM, BSEE, Federal shutdown, INCs, inspections, permitting, Warren Buffett on October 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Good: OCS oil and gas permitting and inspections appear not to be significantly affected by the govt shutdown to-date. 14 planning documents were approved on Oct. 21, and 37 drilling permits have been approved in Oct. (through 10/21).
152 facility inspections were conducted from 10/1 through 10/19. Natural Resources Worldwide (NRW), which is currently the operator of just one Cox legacy platform, has the dubious distinction of being the Shutdown’s Shut-in Leader. 16 Incidents of Non-Compliance (9 warnings and 7 component shut-ins) were issued to NRW during a single facility inspection in October.
Bad: This level of effort is not sustainable given limits on offsetting funds from fees, rentals, etc.
Ugly: The personnel who are performing these duties are not being paid during the shutdown. The longer the shutdown drags on, the greater the hardship on those individuals and their families. Shameful!
Warren Buffett’s proposal would stop deficit spending and address the root cause of shutdowns:
Buffett: “I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than three percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.“
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged BOEM, BSEE, decommissioning, financial assurance, increase taxpayer risk, offshore facilities, reduce supplemental assurance, revised regulation on September 24, 2025| 3 Comments »
Attached is the Dept. of the Interior’s Semiannual Regulatory Agenda (9/22/2025). BSEE and BOEM decommissioning rules are excerpted below.
Of particular concern is the revised BOEM regulation (107) that “would reduce the amount of supplemental financial assurance required from oil gas, and sulfur lessees operating on the OCS.” See our previous post on this regulatory action. Note that a proposed rule is expected to be published by year end.
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged bench ruling, blade failure, BOEM, decommissioning, injunction, Judge Lamberth, Revolution Wind on September 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A long-time colleague is very familiar with Judge Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, and thinks highly of him. Orsted has a lease contract, and no matter where you stand on offshore wind, you have to have a compelling case to halt a project that is in the advanced stages of development. Judge Lamberth ruled that the govt doesn’t have such a case. Per the judge:
Projects under development will be difficult to pause or stop. The Administration should focus on requiring sufficient decommissioning financial assurance, monitoring and mitigating project impacts, making incident data publicly available, issuing the report on the Vineyard Wind blade failure (finally!), and improving the availability of dispatchable power (i.e. natural gas and nuclear).
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 