Court ruling favors energy industry, removes environmental limits on oil land sale.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently delivered a decision that favors energy industry groups, mandating the Biden administration to conduct a significant offshore oil and gas lease sale devoid of environmental restrictions. This ruling overturns the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s imposition of last-minute environmental constraints on Lease Sale 261, originally set for September under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Ryan Meyers, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the American Petroleum Institute (API), expressed satisfaction with the decision, highlighting the importance of maintaining affordable and reliable energy production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The court upheld a previous ruling that dismissed the government’s alteration of Lease Sale 261, which had introduced environmental limitations and blocked off millions of acres initially planned for leasing. This change occurred after a federal agreement with environmental advocacy groups aiming to protect the endangered Rice’s whale.
Despite environmental concerns, the appeals court justified its decision by noting that previous environmental reviews by BOEM concluded that additional protections for the Rice’s whale were unnecessary in the region designated for Lease Sale 261. Moreover, it highlighted the improbability of a whale being impacted by oil-and-gas activities in that specific area.
The legal battle emerged after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management imposed restrictions on Lease Sale 261, prompting a lawsuit from API, the State of Louisiana, and Chevron. Judge James Cain granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs, compelling the Biden administration to proceed with the lease sale without limitations. Subsequent appeals and court orders led to multiple delays in the sale, ultimately resulting in a recent court ruling mandating BOEM to conduct the sale within 37 days.
Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, praised the court’s decision, emphasizing the need to tap into America’s offshore energy resources to address national challenges. He criticized the prior government actions of reducing available acres and imposing restrictions as sidestepping legal processes and disregarding scientific considerations. Milito argued for the importance of supporting U.S. oil and gas production for national security and criticized policies like easing oil sanctions on countries like Venezuela and Iran, suggesting they could contribute to global unrest.
