Offshore Oil & Gas

 

GOP Governors Urge Biden To Reverse Course On Leasing. According to E&E News, “Oil state Republican governors are calling on President Biden to repeal his ‘alarming’ climate order that indefinitely paused oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Govs. Mark Gordon of Wyoming, Greg Abbott of Texas and Mike Dunleavy of Alaska signed the letter alongside 14 other Republican state leaders demanding that Biden ‘pause the pause’ on new drilling rights, pleading cost electricity, state revenues and the energy workforce. ‘There are many parts of our country where energy is more than a utility bill or tank of gas — it’s a job,’ the governors wrote. At issue is an executive order Biden signed shortly after taking office that halts the sale of new drilling rights to the oil and gas sector. Drilling and production are allowed to continue while the administration reviews the federal oil and gas program’s climate impacts. Experts have suggested that the leasing ban could drag on and be a de facto halt on new leasing through much of the president’s term in office or could be a preamble to a stricter drilling reality on federal lands and waters. The governors’ letter represents the latest in a series of rebukes from oil-heavy states like Wyoming and Texas — both of which have called on their state offices and officials to identify ways to push back on the federal action — over the Biden administration’s climate focus. The oil and gas industry and congressional allies have also joined the fray.” [E&E News, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Justices Struggle With Oystermen's Claims In Water Dispute. According to E&E News, “Florida’s bid to curtail Georgia water use that the Sunshine State claims decimated its oyster industry flowed into a tough audience at the Supreme Court today. The case has been a yearslong saga and is now making its second appearance at the high court. But in spite of that, the justices continued to grapple with conflicting evidence, leading Justice Clarence Thomas to call it the ‘case of the disappearing water.’ Indeed, Justice Stephen Breyer said, there is conflicting evidence about how much water is being taken out of Georgia’s rivers before they reach Florida, and how much restoring it would actually help Florida’s oyster industry. ‘How do you get around that?’ Breyer asked, noting that some of Florida’s evidence seems to just be oystermen who went out and said, ‘Hey, there are a lot of dead [oysters] out here.’ The case concerns the three rivers that compose the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. The Chattahoochee and Flint rivers both originate in northern Georgia, flow down the state and meet at the Florida border, where they merge and become the Apalachicola River. That river then flows south, into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the Chattahoochee serves Atlanta’s growing metropolis, but the case is mostly focused on peanut, cotton and other farming in southwest Georgia that relies on the rivers for irrigation water. Attorney Gregory Garre of the firm Latham & Watkins, representing Florida, said the evidence is clear that ‘Georgia’s irrigation use has skyrocketed.’” [E&E News, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

Supreme Court Justices Skewer Florida's Water Case Against Georgia. According to Politico, “U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday hammered Florida’s lawyer over the state’s request that the court restrict water use by Georgia farmers to protect Apalachicola Bay’s oyster industry. The justices seemed to embrace Georgia’s argument that the collapse of the bay’s oyster population in 2012 was caused by Florida wildlife officials allowing overharvesting, rather than upstream water use. Reciting Georgia’s arguments made in briefs, Justice Stephen Breyer said, ‘And you did over-harvest the oysters after the [2010 Deepwater Horizon] oil spill particularly because you thought — get them now or never.’ ‘So you have conflicting evidence,’ Breyer said. Lawyer Gregory Garre, representing Florida, said there was not conflicting evidence that a significant reduction of flows from the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers into Florida’s Apalachicola River had caused a ‘major change’ in Apalachicola bay. ‘And the evidence also shows overwhelmingly that Georgia’s irrigation use has skyrocketed,’ Garre told the justices, ‘and that Florida has been harmed as a result of these low flows.’” [Politico, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

Florida, Georgia Bring Water Rights Grievances Back To Supreme Court. According to Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Florida made a last-ditch effort on Monday to convince Supreme Court justices to place limits on how much water Georgia farmers can consume along the Flint River, arguing that a failure to act would be a ‘death sentence’ to the unique ecology of the Apalachicola Bay. During an hour-long oral argument, conducted virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, Florida’s attorney Gregory Garre said that Georgia’s ‘unrestrained’ water use led to the collapse of the bay’s iconic oyster industry beginning in 2012. He said that a water-sharing decree by the court would lead to ‘meaningful’ benefits to the bay at ‘little to no cost to Georgia.’ ‘It’s hard to imagine New England without lobsters and the Chesapeake Bay without crabs. But, in effect, that’s the future that Apalachicola now faces when it comes to its oysters and other species,’ Garre said. Georgia countered that its water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin, which originates near Lake Lanier, has been reasonable and that other factors, particularly Florida’s mismanagement of its fisheries, led to the oyster population’s decline. ‘Florida has not shown by clear and convincing evidence that Georgia caused Florida’s alleged harms,’ said Georgia’s attorney Craig Primis, who called Florida’s proposed decree ‘draconian.’” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

Rules To Save Right Whales Loom Over Lobster Fishermen. According to E&E News, “America’s lobster fishery is getting close to the date when it will have to contend with new rules designed to try to save a species of whale from extinction. The North Atlantic right whale numbers only about 360, and scientists have said the animal’s small population of breeding females could spell doom for the species. NOAA Fisheries is developing new rules to reduce the possibility of entanglement in fishing gear, which can kill the whales. A court decision required the fisheries service to finalize the rules by May 31. The agency is on track to produce the final rules on time, said spokesperson Jennifer Goebel. The whale protection rules will focus on lobster and crab fisheries in the Northeast by reducing the number of vertical lines in the water, the federal government has said. It will also modify seasonal restricted areas and make other changes, the government has said. The coming restrictions have sparked a rancorous debate between environmentalists and lobster fishermen over the proper way to save the whale. Lobster fishing groups have said overly restrictive rules could put them out of business. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said the industry has a ‘long history of conservation of lobster resource and large whale protections.’” [E&E News, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

Ocean Health & Management

 

U.S. Could Accelerate Ocean Trash Treaty. According to E&E News, “Prospects for a global treaty to curb and clean up the growing problem of plastic waste entering ocean waters have improved with the onset of the Biden administration, experts say. World leaders in Kenya, Portugal and elsewhere have begun to gather support for formal negotiations on creating a treaty in the U.N. Environment Assembly, the world’s highest deliberative body for environmental issues, to halt and clean up the 8 million tons of ocean plastic waste. Work has slowed on a treaty due to the pandemic. This year’s UNEA fifth session, which is taking place this week, is virtual and will largely focus on procedural matters. But advocates have set an in-person session next year as the deadline to formally start drafting the treaty. ‘The momentum is here, but how do we keep that momentum, how do we keep that consensus?’ said Andrés Del Castillo, a senior attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law. At an event discussing marine litter and plastic pollution on Wednesday, John Thompson, a senior environmental official within the State Department, said the United States is open to a multistakeholder approach to addressing marine litter.” [E&E News, 2/22/21 (=)]

 

 

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