CDP: Oceans Clips: August 22, 2022
Judge Permanently Blocks Biden’s Oil Lease Pause. According to The Hill, “A federal judge blocks an executive order on oil leasing in 13 states, the EPA has its eye on restoring certain chemical safety regulations, and the Energy Department projects that Democrats’ climate bill will bring U.S. emissions 40 percent lower than they were in 2005 in 2030. n against the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters Thursday night, a day after another court tossed an earlier injunction against it. In the Thursday ruling, Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the January 2021 order in 13 states that sued over the order in March of that year.” [The Hill, 8/19/22 (=)]
New Law Means Oil And Gas Lease Sales In Gulf Of Mexico Can Continue. According to L’Observateur, “Despite a court victory, President Joe Biden’s signing of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act means his administration’s attempt to halt oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska won’t go into effect at least for the next few years. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday delivered a win for the Biden administration, vacating a lower court order that forced his administration to hold lease sales. A three-judge panel in New Orleans reversed a June ruling from U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty that blocked a Biden executive order suspending new oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and waters, sending the case back to Doughty.” [L’Observateur, 8/19/22 (=)]
US Advances Plans For Offshore Wind In Maine. According to Offshore Engineer, “The U.S. Department of the Interior announced next steps to bring offshore wind energy to the Gulf of Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has made available a Request for Interest (RFI) and Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) in the Federal Register for public comment. “President Biden has set ambitious goals to address the climate crisis, and in response the Interior Department is taking historic steps to develop a robust and sustainable clean energy future,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “Today’s announcement for the Gulf of Maine represents one of the many milestones that this Administration has achieved to advance offshore wind development, create good-paying jobs, and lower consumer energy costs, while collaborating with our government partners, Tribes and key stakeholders to protect biodiversity, advance environmental justice and safeguard other ocean uses.”” [Offshore Engineer, 8/19/22 (=)]
AP| US Protections For Idaho Salmon, Steelhead Are Here To Stay. According to the AP, “A five-year review by U.S. officials has determined that Endangered Species Act protections for ocean-going salmon and steelhead that reproduce in the Snake River and its Idaho tributaries must stay in effect. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division review made public Thursday found that steelhead, spring and summer chinook, sockeye and fall chinook that return to Idaho in rivers from the Pacific Ocean still need their federal protections. The protections include limits on fishing, restrictions on how much water can be used for irrigation, pollution controls for industries and dam operations on the Columbia and Snake rivers.” [AP, 8/19/22 (=)]
CMA CGM Installs Whale Monitoring Buoys Off U.S. East Coast. According to Maritime Executive, “Last week, CMA CGM and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) deployed an acoustic monitoring buoy about 39 miles off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. The buoy, named as “CMA CGM Sea Guardian-Savannah,” is designed to increase North Atlantic right whale detection efforts along the heavily trafficked East Coast, helping to protect the critically endangered species. Another CMA CGM-sponsored buoy was launched off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia last month. Although North Atlantic right whales are protected under the US Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal protection Act, they face serious threats to their survival. Risks such as fishing nets, ship strikes and noise pollution, which disrupts whales’ communication, are all abundant off the East Coast.” [Maritime Executive, 8/21/22 (=)]
Most Bleak Federal Report Yet On High-Tide/Sunny-Day Tide Floods. According to Yale Climate Connection, “The federal government’s eighth State of High Tide Flooding report is its starkest assessment yet detailing the upward trends of rising seas spilling into coastal cities. Scientists at NOAA’s National Ocean Service – the agency’s water counterpart to the National Weather Service – earlier this month reported threefold and fivefold increases since 2000 in sunny-day, high-tide flooding for the southeastern U.S. and western Gulf Coast, respectively. Despite an ongoing La Niña in the eastern Pacific, which can temporarily dampen sea levels along the U.S. coast, the frequency of relentless saltwater flooding – unrelated to extreme weather – has continued to accelerate across the U.S. in 2022. The report underscores an alarming growth of chronic sunny-day floods at nearly 100 tidal locations monitored by NOAA along the U.S. coastline, taxing the ability of modern infrastructure to adapt by gradualism to contain increasingly disruptive and destructive high tides. The latest outlook predicts sunny-day flooding – occurring now about once every other month at any given spot, averaged nationwide – to become as commonplace as every other day by the end of traditional 30-year mortgages originating today.” [Yale Climate Connection, 8/21/22 (=)]
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