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Posts Tagged ‘injunction’

Judge Lamberth’s bench ruling on Revolution Wind is likely to stand

Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , , 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:

  • The govt presented insufficient evidence to support alleged permit noncompliance and national security concerns.
  • The govt acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner.
  • “If Revolution Wind cannot meet benchmark deadlines, the entire project could collapse.”
  • “There is no doubt in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs.”

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).

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Victory for Orsted or temporary reprieve?

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged , , , , on September 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Judge Royce Lamberth granted an injunction allowing Orsted to resume work on the Revolution Wind project. BOEM halted work on the project one month ago.

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Judge Cain suspends the LNG export ban. Expanding gas markets is important to OCS producers.

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on July 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

On July 1, U.S. Federal Judge James Cain Jr. (Western District of Louisiana) issued a preliminary injunction suspending DOE’s LNG exports “pause.” The judge’s full ruling is attached.

Judge Cain: “It appears that the DOE’s decision to halt the permit approval process for entities to export LNG to non-FTA countries is completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy.”

Nothing subtle about that comment 😉

Despite the court order, the Administration seems intent on keeping the “pause” in place. Per White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández, “We remain committed to informing our decisions with the best available economic and environmental analysis, underpinned by sound science.” ????

Nearly 80% of current OCS gas production is from deepwater leases. This production is primarily associated (oil-well) gas that operators are rightfully required to market for resource conservation and environmental reasons. Expanding LNG marketing opportunities could thus improve the economics of deepwater development.

The other 20% of OCS gas production is largely from gas-well (non-associated) gas produced by independent companies that continue to operate in the shallower waters on the shelf. LNG sales could improve the challenging economics for these producers and increase the ultimate recovery of shelf resources.

No.72-PIOrderDownload

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5th Circuit hears arguments on Lease Sale 261 appeal

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on November 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Today, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the appeal of the District Court’s injunction against the Rice’s whale tract deletions and operating stipulations for Sale 261.

If you want to listen to a recording of these arguments, you can do so at this link. The hearing was brief – only about 45 minutes.

Judging by the comments, it sounds like the Court will reach a decision soon. The Department of the Interior is asking for 37 days after the ruling to organize and hold the sales. The industry attorney seemed comfortable with that, so the sale should be prior to Christmas.

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Noteworthy quotes from Judge Cain’s order on lease sale 261

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , on September 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Quotes from the judge’s order (emphasis added):

The challenged lease term for the expanded Rice’s whale area only arose in a July 2023 district court filing and then appeared in the FNOS for Lease Sale 261 on August 25, 2023—one month before the statutory deadline for the sale. BOEM failed to follow its own procedures by making significant changes to the FNOS, thereby depriving both affected states and the public the opportunity for meaningful review and comment. The procedural error is particularly grave here, because of both the compressed timeline and BOEM’s inexplicable about-face on the scientific record it had previously developed. (p.19)

The challenged provisions inserted into these leases at the eleventh hour, and the acreage withdrawal, are based only on an unexplained change in position by BOEM on a single study a few months after that supplemental EIS. The process followed here looks more like a weaponization of the Endangered Species Act than the collaborative, reasoned approach prescribed by the applicable laws and regulations. (p.22).

According to an affidavit from Shell’s commercial manager, the new restrictions on vessel traffic apply to an area of the northern Gulf that separates Shell’s existing offshore leases from the onshore infrastructure that supports them. Shell Offshore Inc., No. 2:23-cv-1167, at doc. 4, att. 2, ¶¶ 23–27. (p. 23).

Given the shaky justification offered by BOEM, the court cannot find that the challenged provisions are so necessary that withholding them even on a preliminary basis will outweigh the risk of irreparable economic harm shown by plaintiffs. Additionally, “there is generally no public interest in the perpetuation of unlawful agency action.” (p. 26)

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Lease Sale 261 update: DOI is enjoined from removing acreage and imposing Rice’s whale stipulation

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , on September 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

For the reasons stated above, the court hereby ORDERS that the Motions for Preliminary Injunction be GRANTED. Accordingly, the government defendants are enjoined from implementing the acreage withdrawal and Stipulation 4(B)(4) as described in the Final Notice of Sale and Record of Decision for Lease Sale 261. Government defendants are ordered to proceed with Lease Sale 261, absent the challenged terms, by September 30, 2023.

gov.uscourts.lawd_.201143.82.0Download

Full docket: State of Louisiana v. Haaland (2:23-cv-01157)

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Louisiana, API, Chevron motion for preliminary injunction on certain Lease Sale 261 provisions

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , on August 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The court filing is attached. See the previous post on this matter.

This Court should grant Plaintiffs—the State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute (“API”), and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (“Chevron”)—a preliminary injunction and prevent those unlawful provisions from permanently disrupting the result of the fast-approaching lease sale (which Congress has directed must occur by September 30, and which cannot be delayed without causing Plaintiffs even more serious injury).

230829-ls261-pi-memoDownload

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