{"id":276176,"date":"2023-08-29T12:50:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T10:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276176"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:50:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T10:50:45","slug":"oil-group-sues-interior-over-arbitrary-unlawful-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276176","title":{"rendered":"Oil Group Sues Interior Over Arbitrary Unlawful Restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest \u201cTime to kick some @$$!\u201d by David Middleton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a continuation of the Rice\u2019s whales saga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick recap<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the first things Biden did after occupying the Oval Office was to\u00a0halt oil & gas lease sales<\/a>\u00a0in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0This was illegal<\/a>. When forced to choose between holding the lease sale, or having the Secretary of the Interior face contempt of court charges,\u00a0they held Sale 257 in November 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A corrupt Obama judge\u00a0voided<\/a>\u00a0the results of that Sale 257 in January 2022. As that case was being appealed in July 2022,\u00a0Sen. Joe Manchin\u2019s (D-WV) Inflation Reduction Act<\/a>\u00a0was passed by Congress and signed into law by Biden. This law required the Interior Department to honor the results of Sale 257 and continue to hold future sales over the open areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The law required Sale 261 to be held before September 30, 2023. Sale 261 is scheduled for September 27, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest developments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just over a month ago, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) agreed to\u00a0gut future lease sales and severely restrict Gulf of Mexico oil & gas operations<\/a>\u00a0as part of a settlement with a group of Enviro-Marxist terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 17, 2023 BOEM issued an\u00a0NTL<\/a>\u00a0(Notice to Lessees and Operators) implementing the arbitrary and unlawful restrictions outlined in the Rice\u2019s whales settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NTL is allegedly\u00a0temporary and voluntary<\/a>, while the \u201cBureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and BOEM are engaged in reinitiated consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the 2020 Biological Opinion.\u201d However, there are no more lease sales scheduled after Sale 261; nor has BOEM issued a new 5-year leasing plan, since Biden occupied the White House. The laws require them to issue a 5-year leasing plan and to continue holding lease sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCircumvents law and ignores science\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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For Immediate Release<\/strong>: Monday, August 21, 2023
NOIA Contact<\/strong>: jwilliams@noia.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTL on Rice\u2019s Whale Circumvents Law and Ignores Science, Will Have Far Reaching Impacts on Gulf of Mexico<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, D.C.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito issued the following statement after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)\u00a0issued a Notice to Lessees<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(NTL) with recommended restrictions on ongoing industry activities within the expanded Rice\u2019s Whale habitat area. BOEM delayed issuance of the NTL from last Friday\u2019s deadline.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis decision by the Biden Administration does an end-around legal requirements and the public process, imposing unwarranted restrictions on U.S. energy production at a time of continued inflation with prices rising at the pump for consumers. The NTL, coupled with the broader Stipulated Stay Agreement, poses a barrier to America\u2019s energy production capabilities within a region that not only sustains hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs but also yields some of the world\u2019s least carbon-intensive barrels.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite lacking ample scientific evidence to support such extensive bans on operations, the agreement targets the domestic offshore oil and gas industry. The\u00a0<\/em>Stipulated Stay agreement<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0ignores the best science, contravenes Congress\u2019 explicit directives in enacting the Inflation Reduction Act, and threatens America\u2019s energy independence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, the federal government is moving forward to expand these protections to other ocean users and industries through the proposed designation of critical habitat for the Rice\u2019s Whale that will establish a restricted pathway through the entirety of the Gulf of Mexico, imposing disruptions to the full Gulf Coast economy \u2013 home to numerous strategic national ports \u2013 and reverberating throughout the whole U.S. economy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong other things, making areas off-limits, imposing speed restrictions, and limiting transit at night and times of low visibility will impact the ability of the offshore energy industry to explore, construct, and develop energy projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The restrictions imposed by the lease stipulations and the NTL jeopardizes the vast concert of vessels working in the Gulf of Mexico and will very likely lead to an increase in the number of vessels at sea at a given time, increasing traffic, risk, and overall emissions. The proposed restrictions would potentially eliminate or hamper safely established and efficient activities in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Rice\u2019s whale is currently afforded protections under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Expanding the Rice\u2019s whale habitat to include areas where there is only a negligible or no presence at all will dilute conservation resources that should be going towards protecting actual habitat areas. \u201cSue and settle\u201d or \u201cregulation by litigation\u201d fails to respect both environmental preservation and the economic vitality that the energy sector supports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Offshore Industries Association<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In response to this, most recent, unlawful effort by the Biden maladministration to shut down offshore drilling, the State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Chevron USA have\u00a0filed a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Lake Charles Division. This is in the 5th Circuit, where the oil & gas industry has won lawsuits over regulatory malfeasance. The 5th Circuit is overseen by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. If there\u2019s a court where this arbitrary and capricious action will be immediately vacated, it\u2019s the 5th Circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the restrictions is the \u201carbitrary and unlawful last-minute changes by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (\u2018BOEM\u2019) to the terms of Lease Sale 261, a lease sale under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (\u2018OCSLA\u2019) covering much of the western and central Gulf of Mexico that Congress has instructed must occur by September 30, 2023\u201d. These last-minute changes include the removal of about 6 million acres, in the heart of the most prolific part of the Gulf of Mexico<\/a> from Lease Sale 261.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ARBITRARY-OR-CAPRICIOUS TEST<\/strong><\/p>\nThe arbitrary-or-capricious test is a short-hand term for the scope-of-judicial-review provision in section 706(2)(A) of the\u00a0<\/em>APA<\/a>\u00a0directing reviewing courts to invalidate agency actions found to be \u201carbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.\u201d<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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This test applies to all agency action, specifically the review of the factual basis for agency rulemaking. In this context, reviewing courts have overturned agency rules if the underlying policy judgments, reasoning, or asserted factual premises of the action are so unreasonable as to be arbitrary.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different test, the \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d test, is required by the APA to be used in decisions made after formal hearings (i.e., formal adjudications and\u00a0<\/em>formal rulemakings<\/a>). But court interpretations of these two tests have indicated that there is not much difference between their application.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GLOSSARY OF REGULATORY JARGON<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Can you say arbitrary and<\/em> capricious?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The existing NMFS biological opinion is that the Rice\u2019s whales core habitat area is the black\/yellow dashed outline on the map below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Louisiana et al. vs Deb Haaland et al.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Rice\u2019s whales core habitat area is in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, where oil & gas leasing has been largely prohibited for decades. The dark blue strip, along the continental slope of the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico is what has been unlawfully removed from Lease Sale 261. The only purpose of these new restrictions is a continuation of the Biden maladministration\u2019s unlawful efforts to shut down oil & gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. This regulatory malfeasance is arbitrary and capricious, with malice aforethought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

API Press Release<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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API, State of Louisiana, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Challenge Lease Sale 261 Final Notice of Sale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

202.682.8114 |\u00a0<\/em>press@api.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON, August 24, 2023 \u2013 The American Petroleum Institute (API) today joined with the State of Louisiana and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. in\u00a0<\/em>filing a challenge<\/a>\u00a0to the Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Management\u2019s (BOEM) Final Notice of Sale for Lease Sale 261. Today\u2019s challenge follows BOEM\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>announcement yesterday<\/a>\u00a0to hold the final offshore lease sale mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, but with significantly reduced acreage and severe restrictions on oil and natural gas vessel traffic.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday we\u2019re taking steps to challenge the Department of the Interior\u2019s unjustified actions to further restrict American energy access in the Gulf of Mexico,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDespite Congress\u2019 clear intention in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration has announced a \u2018lease sale in name only\u2019 that removes approximately 6 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico from the sale and adds new and unjustified restrictions on oil and natural gas vessels operating in this area, ignoring all other vessel traffic. Together with the State of Louisiana and Chevron U.S.A. Inc., we intend to use every legal tool at our disposal to challenge these actions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce again, Joe Biden is unlawfully attempting to kill both Louisiana jobs and affordable energy for all Americans,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWe are yet again taking the President to court, where we trust the rule of law will be followed and Biden\u2019s bureaucrats will be defeated.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background on the Five-Year Program for Federal Offshore Leasing:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n