What started in 2020 as a proposed joint rulemaking between the DOI’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) was recently finalized as a stand-alone BSEE rule addressing decommissioning. BSEE’s new regulations focus on Rights-of-Use and Easements (“RUEs”) and predecessor enforcement practices. At a later date, BOEM intends
On February 16, 2023, Senators John Kennedy, Ted Cruz, Shelley Moore Capito, and Kevin Cramer filed Senate Bill (SB) 438, which is the reintroduction of the Natural Gas Export Expansion Act.
The bill aims to amend the Natural Gas Act to provide for expanded natural gas exports in the United States. The Natural Gas Act
The Safer Seas Act was passed and enacted into law in December 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The Act includes many changes for the maritime industry, specifically for owners and operators of vessels. The below checklist, current as of March 3, 2023, summarizes the required operational and onboard changes. It is
A Regulatory Increase to the Limits of Liability for Oil Pollution and an Amendment Exempting Small Passenger Vessels from the Limitation of Liability Act Present New Challenges for Vessel Owners
U.S. maritime law experienced two significant changes on December 23, 2022—one pertaining to liability for oil pollution, the other concerning small passenger vessels.
First, the
In advance of holding an offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, which is expected this summer, the Department of Interior recently took several steps to update the offshore wind regulatory framework. First, Interior issued a Final Rule, which reassigns the responsibilities for certain regulations governing offshore wind from BOEM to BSEE. This reassignment aligns
In a recent decision following a six-day bench trial, the Southern District of Texas ruled that shipping giant Maersk was not liable for the death of City of Kemah Police Chief Christopher Reed, who was knocked overboard when his boat caught the wake of the Maersk Idaho in the Houston Ship Channel.[1] Mr. Reed’s
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law on November 15, 2021, amended Section 40307 of the Outer Continental Shelfs Act (OCSLA) to provide authority to the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) to grant leases, easements, or rights of way that “provide for, support, or are directly related to the injection of a
On September 14, 2022, the 19th Judicial District Court revoked air permits issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) under Louisiana’s Prevention and Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) regulations[1] for a Formosa Plastics facility (“FG LA”) planned to be built in St. James Parish.[2] The court ruled that LDEQ erred in issuing
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior released its proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) five-year program for offshore oil and gas leasing. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) requires the Secretary of the Department of the Interior to “prepare and periodically revise and maintain an oil and gas leasing program” (i.e., a five-year
On June 23, 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a draft guidance on mitigating potential impacts of offshore wind development on commercial and recreational fishing. The final guidance document will set forth required information that lessees must submit to BOEM at each stage of a wind project, i.e., Site Assessment Plan (SAP)