The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

Various parties are challenging NOAA/NMFS issuance of Incidental Take Authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for oil and gas seismic exploration in the Atlantic Ocean.  This litigation is filed in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.

In a separate case, League of Conservation Voters v. Trump, Case No. 3:17-cv-00101 (D. Alaska), the Alaska Court held that President Trump had no authority to modify President Obama’s prior leasing withdrawals under OCSLA. These Obama leasing withdrawals affected the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

The South Carolina seismic litigation Court asked the Government to explain whether the Alaska leasing litigation court’s decision affected the seismic litigation.

The Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, 21 May 2019 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m; Wednesday, 22 May 2019 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m; Thursday, 23 May 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Commission and the Committee also will meet in executive session on Thursday, 23 May 2019, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

These meetings will be held at the Keauhou Ballroom, Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keahou Bay, 78-128 Ehukai Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service received a request from the U.S. Navy to extend the expiration date from December 2023 to December 2025 for Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations authorizing the take of marine mammals incidental to Navy training and testing activities conducted in the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Study Area. In August 2018, the MMPA was amended by the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 to allow for seven-year authorizations for military readiness activities, as compared to the previously allowed five years. The Navy’s activities qualify as military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA as amended by the NDAA for FiscalYear 2004.

Global News posted the above titled article, which reads in part as follows:

“Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson unveiled new standards for marine protected areas in Canada on Thursday, fully prohibiting oil-and-gas activity, as well as mining, waste-dumping and bottom-trawling.

The change implements recommendations made to the government last year by an advisory panel, and brings Canada up to international standards set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Oilfield Technology posted the above titled article, which reads as follows:

“Sercel has announced that deployment of its QuietSeaTM Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) system has been extended to the UK, following approval by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) of its use for a seismic survey operated by CGG in waters off the Shetland Islands.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has extended the public comment period for commenting on proposed policies and procedures for administration of the National Inventory of Marine Mammals. Comments must now be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on or before July 31, 2019.

On February 15, 2019, NMFS published notice (84 FR 4443) requesting public comment on proposed policies and procedures for the administration and maintenance of the online inventory database, NIMM, including maintenance of historical information, reporting births and stillbirths, reporting cause of death, and other marine mammal information.

Click here for more information and relevant links.

The International Association of Geophysical contractors posted the above-titled article, which reads as follows: “A call for documents to be released related to the plan for seismic testing off the coast of Newcastle has been rejected in the Senate. The Greens made the move in Canberra on budget day, raising a motion in the upper house to have all correspondence, advice and briefing notes to and from the resources minister, environment minister and National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority regarding Petroleum Exploration Permit 11 tabled by April 15. Read more- https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5994484/greens-bid-for-seismic-documents-rejected-in-the-senate/”

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has extended the public comment period for commenting on proposed policies and procedures for administration of the National Inventory of Marine Mammals. Comments must now be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on or before July 31, 2019.

On February 15, 2019, NMFS published notice (84 FR 4443) requesting public comment on proposed policies and procedures for the administration and maintenance of the online inventory database, NIMM, including maintenance of historical information, reporting births and stillbirths, reporting cause of death, and other marine mammal information.

Click here for more information and relevant links.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a final rule listing the Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. NMFS’ notice of this listing states that it has

The above-titled article was written by J. Winston Porter and posted on Energy.  It reads as follows:

“There is no credible way to address offshore drilling in the Atlantic without conducting seismic tests to see how much oil and natural gas lie beneath the Outer Continental Shelf. That is why the National Marine Fisheries Service has approved a plan to map the ocean floor off the coast, from Delaware to Florida.