In 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) issued new financial assurance (“FA”) regulations requiring an estimated $6.9 billion in new supplemental FA from federal offshore oil and gas lessees and grantees, all in excess of base-level bonding amounts (the “Rule”).
Continue Reading BOEM Now Considering Repeal of Its $6.9B Rule and Will Only Seek Supplemental Financial Assurance from Select Properties During Regulatory Review
In Corbello v. Iowa Prod. Co., 850 So. 2d 686 (La. 2003), the Louisiana Supreme Court recognized a “loophole” in the law where a landowner was allowed to recover millions in remediation damages for oilfield contamination without any requirement that the money be used for actual restoration.
Continue Reading Legislation Takes Aim at “Legacy Lawsuits”
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency, as one of its 31 historic deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback,” will reconsider the previous administration’s rule tightening the Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards (PM2.5 NAAQS).
Continue Reading EPA to Reconsider Previous Administration’s PM 2.5 NAAQS, Continuing its Deregulatory Push
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency will undertake 31 deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback.”
Continue Reading EPA Announces 31 Historic Actions Publicized as “Greatest Day of Deregulation Our Nation Has Seen”
On March 12, 2025, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a joint memorandum providing guidance to field staff on implementing the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) as it pertains to “adjacent wetlands.”
Continue Reading EPA and Army Corps Issue New Guidance for Implementing WOTUS Definition under Supreme Court’s Sackett Decision
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued the “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order (“EO”) with the stated purpose of ensuring an abundant supply of affordable and reliable energy in the United States.
Continue Reading NEPA Changes Slated Under President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order
On December 10, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump promised expedited permitting for energy and other construction projects worth more than $1 billion.
Continue Reading Louisiana is “Open for Business,” but Projects Need to Proceed Carefully
The Offshore Parity Act of 2024 (H.R. 10183), introduced on November 20, 2024, by Congressmen Garret Graves (R-LA) and Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA), looks to extend Louisiana’s state authority from 3 to 9 nautical miles offshore into the Gulf of Mexico.
Continue Reading Casting a Wider Net: Proposed Expansion of Coastal States’ Authority
In 2021, the Biden Administration set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (“GW”) of federal offshore wind projects by 2030, and in 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”) set an additional goal of deploying 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2035.
Continue Reading U.S. Federal Offshore Wind in 2024: Growth and Growing Pains
This week, a Maryland federal district court amended its prior Biological Opinion (“BiOP”) vacatur judgment, extending the timeline for vacatur from December 20, 2024, to May 21, 2025, which averts for now a potential shutdown of Gulf of Mexico (“GOM”) oil and gas operations.
Continue Reading Potential Shutdown of GOM Oil and Gas Operations Due to BiOp Vacatur Averted – For Now