Offshore Oil & Gas

 

Military Leaders Drill In On Offshore. According to Politico, “A group of 80 retired military leaders is calling on Congress to make permanent the current offshore drilling moratorium in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 4049 (116), citing national security concerns. The current moratorium expires in June 2022 and the Trump administration could try to open the door back up to drilling off Florida’s coast after the election. ‘Keeping this region free of offshore oil leasing and associated oil infrastructure will help guarantee that vital military readiness activities can continue securely and without interference,’ they write. ‘Simply put, failure to extend the eastern Gulf moratorium poses a threat to America’s military preparedness and threatens our national defense goals.’” [Politico, 7/16/20 (=)]

 

Covington Offshore Operator Places Long-Term Bet On Deepwater Project Despite Recent Downturn. According to The Advocate, “After about a decade in development, Covington-based LLOG Exploration is moving forward on an oil and gas discovery in the Gulf of Mexico despite a tumultuous market in the past few months. LLOG Exploration specializes in deepwater production and expects to drill inside a discovery known as Taggart which sits 140 miles southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico under the Devils Tower Spar. The spar is owned by Williams, a publicly traded Tulsa, Oklahoma-based energy business. LLOG Exploration inked a deal with Williams, where the businesses would use a tie-back, which refers to an underwater connection between a new oil and gas discovery and an existing production facility. In recent months, the Louisiana oil and gas industry has struggled since several service businesses have filed for bankruptcy, on-shore exploration businesses are shutting in wells and oil futures plummeted below $0 per barrel at one point while there was a glut of oil and gas in storage tanks. As of Friday, there are 12 active rigs in the Gulf compared to 26 rigs one year ago. Across Louisiana, there are 31 rigs which include on-shore and offshore facilities down from 69 rigs one year ago.” [The Advocate, 7/13/20 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Offshore Leasing Could Be Major Asset For Florida’s Future. According to The Capitolist, “When the U.S. economy emerges from the shadows of COVID-19, the kickstarter is likely to be America’s abundant energy supplies. That’s because the U.S. now sits atop the world in the production of oil and natural gas. Florida, with rich deposits on both of its shores, can be a key part of that economic renaissance, enriching Floridians and catalyzing growth, but only if public officials in Washington make the right call by embracing federal offshore energy leasing, a practice now prohibited in Florida. Using our state’s offshore energy supplies as a long-term investment for Florida’s future makes lots of sense, but not everyone is on board. In fact, the charge to block offshore leasing is being led by two of our state’s most recognized faces: Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. The pair, who I agree with on almost every other issue of importance, are part of a 27-member Florida congressional delegation that wants to omit Florida from leasing its offshore energy supplies, despite the many benefits of doing so. In recent days, Senator Rubio announced he would attempt to add an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would implement a 10-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Senator Rubio’s gambit relies on the fact that the oil-rich Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area is also home to the Joint Gulf Range Complex, a significant military installation, which has co-existed for many decades with offshore oil drilling. Senator Rubio employed the same strategy last year when he unsuccessfully introduced a bill to prohibit energy leases off Florida waters.” [The Capitolist, 7/15/20 (-)]

 

Marine Renewable Energy

 

Political Push Could Save 1st West Coast Offshore Wind Farms. According to E&E News, “A scuffle between a recent Trump appointee to the Navy and a member of Congress has boiled over into the national defense authorization process and could keep negotiations alive over the first offshore wind turbines in the Pacific. The controversy stems from a push by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) to promote wind projects off the shores of his district in spite of the Department of Defense’s conflicting claims to nearby waters. If built, the projects would be the first turbines off the U.S. West Coast and likely the country’s first to use floating turbines at scale. DOD has for years objected to turbines in Southern and central California waters, but it has periodically shown itself willing to compromise. Last August, Carbajal convened closed-door talks with DOD and the Navy, which has a large footprint in nearby military bases and has played a prominent role in the talks. As recently as February, those talks appeared to be progressing, resulting in the release of a map with areas marked out for possible development (Energywire, Feb. 20). But a rider authored by Carbajal and tucked into the House version of the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act would suddenly curb the Navy’s influence. The House Armed Services Committee approved its fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act earlier this month (E&E Daily, July 2). The rider accuses the Navy’s assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, Charles Williams, of ignoring months of negotiations and making the ‘unilateral decision’ that an offshore wind industry in California would be entirely incompatible with military activities.” [E&E News, 7/16/20 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Will Your Next Salmon Come From A Massive Land Tank In Florida? According to Politico, “The Bluehouse is a high-tech experiment in productivity and sustainability, a supersized aquatic version of greenhouse agriculture that aims to solve a host of environmental problems plaguing conventional salmon farms in coastal waters. Its red-fleshed fish are growing without antibiotics or pesticides, without exposure to seaborne diseases or parasites, without escapes that could allow them to endanger wild fish, and without damage to the overfished and overpolluted oceans. It’s also a well-timed experiment in simplified logistics. At a moment when the coronavirus is exposing the fragility of elaborate global food supply chains — China recently banned salmon imports after false rumors of contagion, while the U.S. meat industry has struggled to keep slaughterhouses open and supermarkets stocked — the Bluehouse is about to start harvesting American-made protein that doesn’t have to be packed in Styrofoam, handled by multiple middlemen, or shipped around the world in carbon-belching cargo planes.” [Politico, 7/15/20 (=)]

 

Sea-Level Rise

 

Rising Seas Mean More Flooding Will Be Coming To New York City. According to Bloomberg, “There’s going to be a lot more flooding in New York this year as climate change causes sea levels to continue to rise. The Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan, flooded 10 times in the 12 months through April, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual report. In the year-long period that began in May, the agency expects it happen as many as 14 more times. That’s a big change from the early 2000s, when the Battery would flood less than 5 times per year. Along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, sea levels reached all-time highs, with Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, Maryland, and Virginia Key near Miami among areas that saw record surge. Often, high-tide flooding occurs when there’s a nearby storm. But in these cases, called ‘sunny day flooding,’ tides rose at least 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) or more above average high-tide levels because global warming is causing water to expand and glaciers to melt. Along the U.S. coastline, the ocean rose to a record 1.1 foot on average, above 1920 levels. ‘Flooding that only happened with a storm is happening all the time,’ Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAA’s ocean service, said in a call with reporters. The global rate of sea-level rise has been about an inch every 8 years.” [Bloomberg, 7/14/20 (=)]

 

Ocean Health & Management

 

AP | Shore Town Sees Political Revenge In Dune Destruction Flap. According to E&E News, “New Jersey’s threat to make a shore town rip out a sea wall and other oceanfront structures feels like political retribution, North Wildwood officials say. North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello, a Republican, said yesterday it’s more than a coincidence that shortly after he criticized Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s reopening of the shore economy amid the coronavirus outbreak, the state Department of Environmental Protection hit his town with numerous violations notices and threats of costly repair work. North Wildwood officials say the sea wall was built without a required coastal construction permit — but with full knowledge of state officials — only after years of requests for storm protection were ignored by state and federal authorities, which the city says ultimately led to storms wrecking the dunes and wetlands. In a statement yesterday, Rosenello said the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Protection missed deadlines and failed to build a beach protection project in the area for over six years, leading to serious erosion and destruction of dunes. He said the town had spent $10 million of its own money trucking in sand to repair the damage. ‘North Wildwood has repeatedly asked the NJDEP to take emergency action to address the alarming destruction of natural and man-made resources on the oceanfront of the city,’ Rosenello said, adding that the requests have been ignored by Murphy and the NJDEP. In June, the DEP hit North Wildwood with numerous violation notices accusing it of illegally destroying dunes and wetlands, and threatening to make the town rip out structures it built and restore the area to its natural condition.” [E&E News, 7/15/20 (=)]

 

 

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