Texas sues Biden Administration over lizards' endangered status, citing oil industry threat
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration Monday, claiming that the decision to declare the dunes sagebrush Lizard as an endangered species could harm property owners or energy production. Paxton, who is a Republican, claimed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based its final rule, adopted on May 20, on inaccurate data and arbitrary assumptions regarding the future of the lizard. He said that the move would threaten the ability of private landowners to conduct business, while also ensuring the survival of the lizard in its vast geographic range which overlaps the Permian basin…
U.S. Court Vacates Dominion Atlantic Coast Natgas Pipe Permit
A U.S. appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday vacated a permit by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that allowed Dominion Energy Inc to build its Atlantic Coast natural gas pipe from West Virginia to North Carolina in areas inhabited by threatened or endangered species.(Reuters, Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Luthi Steps Down as NOIA Head
The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) announced that Randall Luthi will leave the organization next month, after serving as the group’s president for nearly 10 years. Luthi will return to his home state of Wyoming to serve as Chief Energy Advisor to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.The offshore energy group NOIA represents more than 250 companies involved in the exploration and development of offshore energy, including oil and gas as well as renewables. Luthi represented the US offshore industry over two Administrations as a big supporter of the all-of-the-above energy approach.
US Offshore Drilling Takes Center Stage
U.S. lawmakers will quiz President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Interior Department on Thursday, focusing on the former energy and mining lobbyist’s plans to expand fossil fuels production from the United States' public lands and waters.The Interior Department, which oversees more than a fifth of the U.S. land surface from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, has been central to Trump's policy of boosting domestic crude oil, natural gas and coal production.David Bernhardt, 49, has been acting secretary at the department since December when his predecessor Ryan Zinke resigned under a cloud of ethics investigations.
Seismic Surveys Delayed in US Arctic
There will be no seismic exploration this winter on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Interior Department said on Friday, after the company seeking permission to conduct the tests ran out of time to get the required permit."We can confirm that seismic surveys will not take place until December 2019," said Alex Hinson, U.S. Department of the Interior spokesman, in an email.The company applying for the permits, SAExploration, had applied for a start date as early as December 2018 for seismic testing as a precursor to drill in the ANWR, which has been off-limits to drillers for decades.The application remains active, but will be altered.
Senate Panel Set to Advance Quest for Oil in Alaska Refuge
Oil drilling in a vast Alaskan wildlife refuge could move a step closer to reality on Wednesday as a Senate panel votes to open part of the reserve coveted by conservationists. Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, have long wanted to prise open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the north coast known as the 1002 area. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and the head of the Senate energy committee, says drilling in the refuge is needed to provide jobs and boost the country's resource base. But former U.S.
U.S. Mulls 30-Year "incidental strike" Wind Farm Permit
U.S. wildlife managers on Wednesday again proposed granting 30-year permits to wind farms that would forgive them for thousands of eagle deaths expected during that time frame from collisions of the birds with turbines, towers and electrical wires. The proposed rule, like one struck down by a federal judge last year, would greatly extend the current five-year time frame in the permits required under U.S. law for the "incidental take" of eagles, including those killed by obstacles erected in their habitat. Wind energy companies have pressed the U.S.
NOAA, Deepwater Horizon Trustees Announce Draft Restoration Plans
NOAA and the other Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Trustees today released a 15-year comprehensive, integrated environmental ecosystem restoration for the Gulf of Mexico in response to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill. Implementing the plan will cost up to $8.8 billion. The explosion killed 11 rig workers and the subsequent spill lasted 87 days and impacted both human and natural resources across the Gulf. The Draft Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan…
Inspectors Vigilant over Shell’s Arctic Drilling
Shell’s drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea are being overseen 24/7 by inspectors from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to ensure compliance with federal regulations and safety standards, BSEE said. BSEE said its inspector boarded the semi-submersible drilling unit Transocean Polar Pioneer before it began drilling the top section of the well at Burger J on July 30, and a second BSEE inspector is on board the drillship Noble Discoverer at Burger V, even though the Discoverer is not permitted to conduct drilling operations while the Polar Pioneer is operating.
Shell Gets APD for limited Arctic Drilling
After extensive review and under a robust array of safety requirements, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director Brian Salerno today announced that Shell has received conditional approval of two Applications for Permits to Drill (APD) to conduct limited exploratory drilling activities in the Chukchi Sea offshore Alaska. Specifically, the APDs limit Shell to drilling only the top sections of wells and prohibit Shell from drilling into oil-bearing zones. Shell currently is not permitted to drill into oil-bearing zones because, to do so, BSEE requires that a capping stack be on hand and deployable within 24 hours.
Shell Steps Closer to Arctic Drilling
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the nonlethal, incidental, and unintentional take of small numbers of polar bears and Pacific walrus that result from Shell’s exploratory drilling activities in the Chukchi Sea. The agency gave authorization despite finding information gaps regarding walrus and polar bear behavior in offshore environments, the immediate and long-term responses of these animals to drilling operations, and the subsistence hunting activities of several Native villages. With this authorization, Shell only requires…
US Issues Potential Setback to Shell's Arctic Drilling
The Obama administration issued a potential setback to Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic oil exploration plans on Tuesday, telling the company that established wildlife protections prevent it from drilling two rigs simultaneously within 15 miles (24 km) of each other, as it had planned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Shell a permit on Tuesday that said that under existing federal walrus and polar bear protections, Shell must maintain a 15 mile buffer if it plans to drill two rigs simultaneously. In Shell's 2015 Arctic drilling plan, no two of its wells are more than 15 miles apart. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Environmentalists: Walrus Population at Risk in Arctic
Green groups urged the U.S. Department of Interior on Tuesday to revoke the agency's conditional approval of Royal Dutch Shell's 2015 Arctic oil exploration plan, saying it runs counter to established protections for walruses. A 2013 rule implemented by the Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau of the Interior Department, prevents energy companies from exploring for oil simultaneously at wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska that are within 15 miles (24 km) of each other. The rule is meant to protect walrus populations that are sensitive to the noise and disruption of drilling in their habitat.
Calif. Renewable Energy Zone Plan Revamped
An ambitious plan to put California's renewable energy projects in areas where the environment will face the least harm is getting a major overhaul after years of delays and criticism from developers, environmentalists and counties. Started in 2008 under then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan aims to identify 22.5 million acres of land for solar, wind and geothermal projects to meet California's ambitious goal of sourcing one-third of its electricity from renewable sources. It assumes that 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects could be built in the California desert by 2040.
No Planned Restart for Pipeline Shuttered After Montana Oil Spill
Bridger Pipeline LLC said on Tuesday it has no timeline for reopening a pipeline that breached over the weekend and spilled crude oil into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana. The company is confident the amount of oil spilled is around 1,200 barrels, company spokesman Bill Salvin said. The estimate is at the higher end of a range given earlier by the company. The Environmental Protection Agency announced a coordinated response over the weekend that included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
PacifiCorp Sentenced for Killing Birds at Wind Projects
PacifiCorp Energy, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, based in Portland, Oregon, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Wyoming today to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in connection with the deaths of protected birds, including golden eagles, at two of the company’s wind projects in Wyoming. Under a plea agreement with the government, the company was sentenced to pay fines, restitution and community service totaling $2.5 million and was placed on probation for five years, during which it must implement an environmental compliance plan aimed at preventing bird deaths at the company’s four commercial wind projects in the state.
Coast Guard Matagorda Bay Responds to Further Oil Pollution
The US Coast Guard informs that clean-up and response teams from the Matagorda Bay Incident Command Post are responding to sightings of oil near North Padre Island and along sporadic portions of Mustang Island in Corpus Christi. Additional sightings also include tar balls in the area, although it is not clear whether the tar balls are the result of the March 22 spill near Texas City. However, response teams from Miller Environmental, who are engaged in combatting that incident, have mobilized to contain and collect those tar balls and oil in newly impacted areas as well. Tar balls, ranging from dime size to 6 inches were observed in patches of seaweed along J.P.
