In his final days in office, President Joe Biden has exercised his executive authority to withdraw more than 625 million acres of federal waters from future oil and gas leasing – the largest withdrawal of its kind in U.S....more
1/14/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
BOEM ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Leases ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States
A federal court has thrown out key Endangered Species Act (ESA) analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, which will be vacated as of Dec. 20, 2024. The United States District Court for the District of...more
8/30/2024
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Administrative Procedure ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
BOEM ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Fully Protected Species ,
Gulf of Mexico ,
Gulf Oil Spill ,
Incidental Take Permits ,
Maritime Transport ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Spills ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ,
Pending Litigation ,
Wildlife Protection
For a decade, the U.S. Department of the Interior has wrestled with financial assurance (or bonding) requirements for offshore oil and gas companies. Over the last 10 years, the Interior Department has released – and later...more
4/17/2024
/ BOEM ,
Bonds ,
Credit Ratings ,
Decommissioned Facilities ,
Department of the Interior ,
Final Rules ,
Leases ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas ,
Performance Bonds ,
Public Comment
After months of delay, the U.S. Department of the Interior auctioned off 1.7 million acres for offshore oil and gas leases during Lease Sale 261 on Dec. 20, 2023. (See Holland & Knight's previous alert, "Interior Department...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Nov. 14, 2023, dismissed claims brought by environmental groups challenging offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 261. The court ordered that the sale take place within 37 days of...more
11/16/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
BOEM ,
Department of the Interior ,
Dismissals ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas
The U.S. Department of the Interior, through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), published a proposed rule on June 29, 2023, to significantly modify how the agency assesses the offshore oil and gas industry's...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (the Act), which passed the U.S. Senate on Aug. 7, 2022, requires that previously announced offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska be held during the next two years....more
The U.S. Department of the Interior on July 1, 2022, released its long-awaited update on the next Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) five-year proposed offshore drilling program (Program), a day after the previous program expired....more