Offshore Oil & Gas

 

Appeals Court: NOAA Can’t Make Rules For Offshore Fish Farms. According to Associated Press, “A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a decision that throws out rules regulating fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico. The law granting authority over fisheries to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does not also let the agency set rules for offshore fish farms, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its 2-1 decision on Monday. The farms use enormous open-topped nets or submersible pens to raise huge numbers of fish, including tuna, salmon, seabass and cobia, out in open water. The government says fish farming, including that on the open sea, is vital to seafood production and can both provide jobs and protect species and habitats. Opponents say huge numbers of fish confined in nets out in the ocean could hurt ocean health and native fish stocks, and the farms would drive down prices and devastate commercial fishing communities. ‘I think this is the final nail in the coffin for industrial aquaculture in federal waters unless Congress gives authority,’ said George Kimbrell, who represented opponents of the plan as legal director for the Center For Food Safety.” [Associated Press, 8/3/20 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: With Hurricanes Lurking, The Last Thing Florida Needs Is Drilling Rigs Off Our Coasts. According to South Florida Sun Sentinel, “As Floridians watched Hurricane Isaias develop, we shook our heads about recent reports that the Trump administration plans to push oil drilling closer to our coasts after the fall election. That’s why a bipartisan group of Florida Members of Congress are working to protect our shores. What President Donald Trump fails to understand is that any expansion of offshore drilling is a bad idea for three simple reasons: it’s risky, few people want it and it’s just not needed. The risk has been crystal clear since the unthinkable happened a decade ago when BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and setting into motion 87 days of disaster as the world watched 200 million gallons of oil gush into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil and tar balls washed up on Panhandle beaches and a 1,000-mile wide swath of coastline was polluted by oil. Livelihoods were threatened and lost, cleanup workers were sickened, and wildlife and the environment were devastated. While catastrophes of this scale don’t happen every day, their enormous impact lives on. The spill and its economic impact on tourism-dependent coastal communities are a big reason Floridians strongly oppose more offshore drilling. In fact, 69% of Florida voters in 2018 rejected offshore drilling by passing Amendment 9, banning drilling in state waters in Florida’s Constitution. More than 90 local Florida governments have passed resolutions opposing either offshore drilling or the dangerous seismic blasting exploration that precedes it.” [South Florida Sun Sentinel, 8/3/20 (+)]

 

Marine Renewable Energy

 

With The Wind. According to Politico, “A new industry-backed study from research group Wood Mackenzie examined existing offshore wind activities and policy assumptions for potential federal lease auctions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and found that the U.S. Treasury could reap $1.7 billion in initial revenues in just two years and ultimately $166 billion in capital expenditures by 2035. If the assumed BOEM auctions in 2021 and 2022 happen, total full-time equivalent job creation from the offshore wind activities would be about 80,000 jobs annually from 2025 to 2035, according to the study. The study was commissioned by American Wind Energy Association, National Ocean Industries Association, New York Offshore Wind Alliance, and the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind at the University of Delaware.” [Politico, 8/4/20 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Fisheries Service Can’t Regulate Aquaculture In Gulf Of Mexico. According to Bloomberg Law, “The National Marine Fisheries Service can’t use the absence of ‘aquaculture’ or ‘fish farming’ in a federal law governing fisheries management as an opening to regulate aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico, the Fifth Circuit said Monday. NMFS argued the Magnuson-Stevens Act is ambiguous as to whether it includes aquaculture, so the agency should be entitled to deference in its decision to regulate it. The act is a ‘textual dead zone’ regarding aquaculture, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said. But that doesn’t mean Congress authorized the agency to create and regulate an industry the statute doesn’t...” [Bloomberg Law, 8/4/20 (=)]

 

Sea-Level Rise

 

Miami Might Reverse Plan To Close Climate Office. According to E&E News, “Gilbert, who joined the city in 2016 as its first CRO, is credited with overseeing an ambitious agenda to beat back climate change. But it now appears that city officials are having second thoughts about cutting the office. City Administrator Art Noriega told the city’s Climate Resilience Committee yesterday that reporting on the plan was a ‘gross misrepresentation’ and that Miami was not defunding resilience efforts. Rather, he said, the mayor’s office would transfer the chief resilience officer position to the Department of Public Works, which would implement measures put forth by Gilbert’s office. Public works Director Alan Dodd would become the new chief resilience officer and hand over his current duties to another public works official. … Committee Chairwoman Amy Clement told Suarez and Noriega that she ‘was very concerned the city’s involvement in those projects is not going to be at the same level it was before,’ adding, ‘I insist [the city] maintain its level of commitment and advance the work’ of the resilience officer. Dodd, who became Miami’s public works director in 2018 after holding similar positions in Fort Lauderdale, said he had every intention of implementing the work of the resilience office, including provisions under the recently released ‘Miami Forever Climate Ready’ strategy. Clement said the committee had received more than 40 public comments by email and voicemail, Clement said, a dozen of which were played during last night’s meeting. All voiced strong opposition to the plan. ‘I am filled with dismay and anger,’ one commenter said. ‘Resilience is more than just sea-level rise and the risks we face in the future. It’s about the community networks and actions Miami needs today.’” [E&E News, 8/4/20 (=)]

 

Ocean Health & Management

 

The Problem With Plastic. According to WTVJ-TV, “‘I’m motivated a lot by my kids, and worry what kind of planet we’re handing over to them.’ For Catherine Uden, there’s a lot to worry about. Millions upon millions of tons of it. The former Broward County public school teacher and avid paddle boarder is now an advocate for OCEANA, and she is trying to bring local awareness to the global campaign ‘Break Free From Plastic.’ ‘17.6 billion pounds of plastic leaks into the marine environment from land-based sources every year,’ Uden said. ‘That’s roughly equivalent to dumping a garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute.’ Because of our reliance, that staggering amount of yearly plastic waste in our oceans is expected to triple by 2040. That would join an estimated 150 million tons of it already polluting the water. ‘The Break Free From Plastic campaign is trying to reduce plastic production, but tackling it at the source. We are focusing on corporate responsibility, producer responsibility and asking for action from our government,’ Uden said. The federal push centers around H.R. 5845, The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, introduced and sponsored in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The bill would ban plastic retail bags, beef up recycling and composting, temporarily halt new plastic production facilities and require plastic products to have an increased amount of recycled content.” [WTVJ-TV, 8/3/20 (=)]

 

 

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