The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

The Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior has signed and published Order 3550, which

“implements the President’s Executive Order entitled: ‘implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy’ (April 28, 2017); enhances opportunities for energy exploration, leasing, and development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS); establishes regulatory certainty for OCS activities; and enhances conservation stewardship, thereby providing jobs, energy security, and revenue for the American people.”

The Secretary’s Order takes a number of steps to expedite offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction. These steps include ordering the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to:

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issuance of another Incidental Harassment Authorization that uses NMFS’ new Acoustic Guidance, in violation of Section 10 of President Trump’s Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.

NMFS proposes to issue this IHA under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. It would authorize the Washington State Department of Transportation to take marine mammals incidental to the Mukilteo Multimodal Construction Project in Washington State. NMFS must receive any comments and information on this proposed IHA no later than June 9, 2017. Click here for more details and relevant links.

Several environmental groups have filed suit in Alaska federal district court over President Trump’s Executive Order opening up the Arctic and Atlantic to offshore oil and gas.  The complaint they filed in court is available here.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed issuance of two Incidental Harassment Authorizations that use NMFS’ new Acoustic Guidance, in violation of Section 10 of President Trump’s Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.

NMFS proposes to issue both these IHAs under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. The first IHA would authorize the U.S. Air Force 86 Fighter Weapons Squadron to take marine mammals incidental to Long Range Strike Weapons System Evaluation Program activities in the Barking Sands Underwater Range Expansion area of the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, Hawaii, for the period of August 23, 2017, through August 22, 2022.  NMFS must receive any comments on this proposed IHA no later than June 5, 2017. Click here to read more about this proposed Air Force IHA.

On April 28, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.” This Order states that

“It shall be the policy of the United States to encourage energy exploration and production, including on the Outer Continental Shelf, in order to maintain the Nation’s position as a global energy leader and foster energy security and resilience for the benefit of the American people, while ensuring that any such activity is safe and environmentally responsible.”

The Order requires several federal agency actions to implement this policy. These actions include the Secretary of the Department of Commerce taking “all steps necessary to rescind or revise” NMFS’ new Acoustic Guidance, “if appropriate.”

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has received a request from the U.S. Navy for authorization to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar in areas of the world’s oceans (with the exception of Arctic and Antarctic waters and certain geographic restrictions), from August 15, 2017, through August 14, 2022.

The Navy’s activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. Pursuant to the MMPA, NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue regulations to govern the incidental take of marine mammals by Level B harassment during the specified activity.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to the training activities conducted in the Gulf of Alaska Temporary Maritime Activities Area Study Area from May 2017 through May 2022. These regulations allow NMFS to issue a Letter of Authorization for the incidental take of marine mammals during the Navy’s specified activities and timeframes, set forth the permissible methods of taking, set forth other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, and set forth requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the incidental take. These regulations are effective April 26, 2017, through April 26, 2022.

The International Association of Geophysical Contractors recently posted the following notice about the Offshore Technology conference, which is held Monday, May 01, 2017 – Thursday, May 04, 2017 CST, at NRG Park, Houston, Texas, USA:

“The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is where energy professionals meet to exchange ideas and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for offshore resources and environmental matters.

OTC is the largest event in the world for the oil and gas industry featuring more than 2,400 exhibitors, and attendees representing 120 countries.

DOSIT recently circulated the following notice:

“During the June 2017 joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the European Acoustical Association (EAA), in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS) project <http://www.dosits.org/> will host a special session for decision makers titled ‘Incorporating Underwater Acoustics Research into the Decision Making Process’.  This special session is sponsored by Animal Bioacoustics (AB) and co-sponsored by Acoustical Oceanography (AO), Education (ED), and Underwater Acoustics (UW).

The session will take place on the afternoon of Monday, June 26, 2017, and will include:

OCEANOISE2017 is hosted by the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics of the Technical University of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech.  It  will be held in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a small town (70.000 hab) located on the Mediterranean coast, at around 40km South from Barcelona, Spain. It will be held from May 8 through May 12, 2017. Program and registration information are available here.