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Posts Tagged ‘NEPA’

Emergency permitting procedures announced

Posted in energy policy, Regulation, tagged , , , on April 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The U.S. Department of the Interior will implement emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.

I’m trying not to be skeptical, but these timelines are very ambitious. How much leeway do the words “approximately” and “roughly” provide?

  • Projects analyzed in an environmental assessment, normally taking up to one year, will now be reviewed within approximately 14 days.
  • Projects requiring a full environmental impact statement, typically a two-year process, will be reviewed in roughly 28 days. 

Do we really have a “National Energy Emergency?” Environmental lawyers (and their fundraisers) will no doubt be very busy.

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Ocean City MD et al sue to vacate Maryland Offshore Wind approval

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

As promised, Ocean City, Maryland, neighboring towns, counties, fishing groups, the Save Right Whales Coalition, and a long list of commercial entities have sued BOEM for approving the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the Maryland Offshore Wind project. The complete filing is attached.

The plaintiffs’ discussion of BOEM’s failure to consider true alternatives (begins on p. 43) is particularly interesting. They contend that “BOEM rejected out-of-hand all true alternatives, and selected alternatives with only minor differences in number of turbines and the route for the power cables from the proposed action.“

The plaintiffs also assert (p. 44) that “BOEM flatly rejected the option of not authorizing the Maryland Offshore Wind Project—as though approval were foreordained, with only the details to be determined.“

The plaintiffs’ argue further (p. 46) that BOEM failed to analyze the 3 phases of the project, particularly the third phase which is open-ended at this time.

Blade failure concerns are discussed beginning on p. 49. Excerpt:

“Missing from BOEM’s Final EIS is any discussion or analysis of the environmental impacts in the event of blade and turbine failure and the degradation of Project components, which are known and foreseeable possibilities that should have been reviewed and analyzed by BOEM. Risks of blade and turbine failure and component degradation are not hypothetical. Rather, they pose real dangers to the water quality of the ocean, fish and essential fish habitats, marine mammals, benthic resources, and recreational and commercial boaters.”

As previously recommended, wind leasing and plan approvals should be paused until BSEE’s investigation of the Vineyard Wind blade failure and the associated environmental damage study have been completed.

There is much more in this filing for those who want to take a closer look.

093114415371Download

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SCOTUS allows 9th Circuit decision on Pacific well stimulation to stand

Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on June 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The Supreme Court has decided to allow the 9th Circuit decision on offshore well stimulation to stand.

From a regulatory and technical standpoint, the 9th Circuit decision is highly questionable. The limited well stimulation operations offshore California were conducted 9-31 years ago and were carefully reviewed and monitored. No fluids were released or escaped to the marine environment.

During the Obama administration (and under the capable leadership of Directors Brian Salerno and Abigail Ross Hopper), BSEE and BOEM conducted a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) from the use of specific well stimulation treatments in oil and gas activities on the Pacific OCS. The 9th Circuit decided that wasn’t enough and the SCOTUS chose not to review their decision.

Given the current state of Pacific offshore operations, the court decisions will have little or no effect on well activity now or in the foreseeable future. If the BSEE well permitting site is up-to-date, there have been no Pacific well operations in the past 3 years. For the 2 years prior to that, the only well operations were for plugging and abandonment purposes. Therefore, the main concerns are the decision to require an EIS prior to any future well stimulation operations, and perhaps more importantly, the implications of the decision on offshore operations elsewhere.

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New York Times on NEPA

Posted in accidents, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The future pace of drilling approvals in the Gulf of Mexico might be slowed less by new laws or regulations stemming from last year’s massive spill but by a decades-old law that opens the door to longer environmental reviews and litigation. New York Times

We know the NEPA process is slow and repetitive, but how much value is added? NEPA reviews don’t improve well integrity, BOP performance, or safety management programs; nor do they even address these fundamental safety and pollution prevention considerations, at least not in a substantive way.  Why not publish a single, comprehensive online environmental review for drilling and production operations in the region?  The review would cover all possible impacts for every type of operation. This detailed “living document” would be continuously updated as new environmental information is acquired, technology advances, and regulations and standards are updated.  The public could comment on specific operations as they are proposed, and could otherwise comment on the document at any time. Periodic public meetings could be held as necessary and desirable.

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