Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged applicability to DC court decisions on the Gulf of America, restricts Federal district courts, SCOTUS, universal injunctions on June 27, 2025| 1 Comment »
Today’s Supreme Court decision limits the power of federal district judges to issue universal injunctions. I wonder if this decision restricts courts in DC and Maryland from ruling on oil and gas operations in the Gulf of America? Perhaps not, because those decisions are linked to Federal agencies in the DC area even though the activity is in the Gulf.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Ack for Whales, Hail Mary, Jayden Daniels, Nantucket, SCOTUS, Vineyard Wind on January 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the challenge of the Vineyard Wind project brought by the Nantucket-based nonprofit ACK For Whales. This is not surprising given that the odds of the SCOTUS hearing the case were extremely low, tantamount to the completion of a “Hail Mary” pass.
Perhaps Nantucket should have added Jayden Daniels to their team! 😉
Although the SCOTUS declined to hear their challenge, the Nantucket group may still achieve their objective, at least in part, given the looming changes in Federal policy and the financial and operational challenges facing the offshore wind industry.
Posted in Offshore Wind, tagged Ack for Whales, Aquinnah Wampanoag, SCOTUS on October 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The attached brief was filed in the Supreme Court today by the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in support of the Nantucket group ACK for Whales petition that was previously posted.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, tagged California, fracking, NEPA, SCOTUS, well stimulation 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.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged Coast Guard, floating production units, OOC, SCOTUS, vessel definition on May 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Dr. Malcolm Sharples, a leading marine engineer and offshore safety advocate, brought this Supreme Court’s decision and the resulting regulatory confusion to my attention.
It turns out that the SOCTUS decision about this houseboat…..
has created regulatory uncertainty for floating production facilities like this:
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that a gray, two-story home that its owner said was permanently moored to a Riviera Beach, Florida, marina was not a vessel, depriving the city of power under U.S. maritime law to seize and destroy it.
Reuters
The floating production facilities are still subject to Coast Guard regulation and inspection pursuant to separate authority under the OCS Lands Act. The extent to which Coast Guard approval and inspection practices will change is not entirely clear. The Coast Guard will issue new certificates of inspection for these floating facilities, and new policy guidance is being developed.
Attached are answers that the Coast Guard provided to questions from the Offshore Operators Committee.
This may be a good warmup for an upcoming post on regulatory fragmentation.
Posted in climate, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged climate, GHG emissions, Justice Gorsuch, Lease Sale 257, SCOTUS, West Virginia vs. EPA on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
When Congress seems slow to solve problems, it may be only natural that those in the Executive Branch might seek to take matters into their own hands. But the Constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws passed by the people’s representatives.
Justice Gorsuch in concurrence
Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible “solution to the crisis of the day.” New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, 187 (1992). But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme in Section 111(d). A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body.
Justice Roberts for the majority
At first glance, the SCOTUS decision would seem to affect the regulation of GHG emissions on the OCS and possibly the Lease Sale 257 decision (now being appeal), which was based on BOEM’s failure to estimate the effect of reduced OCS production on GHG emissions outside the US.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 