American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2016 - 18

IndustryDigest
delays and exorbitant legal costs that
come along with litigation," they state.
Whatever the outcome of the
lawsuits, they are not a funding
mechanism for state or local
government budgets, including parish
general funds, the three associations
assert, but rather they divert critical
resources that should be used in support
of industry efforts to restore Louisiana's
coastal areas.
LOGA President Don Briggs says,
"When you take out the ingredients of
'greedy' trial lawyers, it is hopeful that
facts and law will prevail. No matter
what the attorney general does or
doesn't bring to the cases, we look
forward, as an industry, to spending
working capital on operations, and not
on unnecessary lawsuits." ❒

BOEM Issues Final Rule
For Leasing On The OCS
WASHINGTON-The federal Bureau
of Ocean Energy Management has
released a long-awaited final rule on
leasing oil and gas or sulfur on the
Outer Continental Shelf, according to
the National Ocean Industries
Association.
NOIA says the rule making began
with the proposed rule, Leasing of
Sulfur or Oil and Gas and Bonding
Requirements in the Outer Continental
Shelf (74 FR 25177), published by the
old Minerals Management Service in
May 2009. "However," NOIA notes,
"the final rule does not include
substantive changes to bonding
regulations, which will be the subject of
a separate rule making."
The final rule, which NOIA says will
take effect May 31, may be viewed at
www.boem.gov/Leasing-Final-Rule/.
NOIA says the final rule reorganizes
leasing requirements to better reflect the
leasing process, policies and
procedures, and also clarifies filing
requirements for transfering of
economic interests in leases.
"However," the association observes,
"it appears several new provisions in the
final rule were not included for public
comment in the proposed rule."
NOIA points to three provisions that
it says may be of particular concern:
* Under Section 556.105, the definition of "you" has been expanded and
appears to include contractors.
* Section 550.121 allows BOEM to
18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

require additional measures to ensure
the use of best available and safest technology, as identified by the Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement,
to protect health, safety, property and
the environment.
* Under Section 556.403, BOEM
may disqualify a party from holding an
OCS lease "based on its unacceptable
operating performance." NOIA says
BOEM is to provide adequate notice
and an opportunity for a hearing before
disqualifying a leaseholder. ❒

Industry Groups Attack
New NOAA Proposal On
Marine Seismic Surveys
WASHINGTON-The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's latest attempt to revise
its guidance for assessing the impacts
on marine animals of seismic surveys is
drawing criticism from four oil and gas
groups.
In joint comments submitted by the
American Petroleum Institute,
International Association of
Geophysical Contractors, Alaska Oil &
Gas Association, and the National
Ocean Industries Association, the
groups say two earlier NOAA draft
documents had flaws but were generally
workable. "However, the most recent
draft deviates from these previous
documents, and if implemented, will
threaten future seismic surveys in the
offshore," they say.
According to comments the groups
submitted in response to the draft
document, NOAA is proposing changes
to its Draft Guidance for Assessing the
Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on
Marine Mammal Hearing in a manner
that is not comprehensive, transparent,
or consistent with the best available
science.
In its notice of proposed changes,
published March 16 in the Federal
Register, NOAA identifies the noise
thresholds for underwater
anthropogenic sound sources at which
marine mammals are predicted to
experience changes in their hearing
sensitivity.
The agency's proposed changes are
substantial, significant, and result in
very different criteria than were
proposed in the 2015 draft guidance, the
industry group asserts. But despite the

magnitude of the changes, it says
NOAA has provided little or no
supporting scientific analyses or
explanations, has not yet subjected the
proposed changes to peer review, and
only allowed a 14-day comment period.
According to the comments,
NOAA's proposed changes will result in
unsupported conclusions that marine
mammals are able to hear a broader
range of frequencies at lower sound
levels compared with the 2015 version
of the draft guidance.
The four associations ask NOAA to
retract the 2016 proposed changes, and
instead engage in a peer review process
similar to those it employed when it
issued the first and second draft
guidances. Only then should the agency
re-propose any necessary changes to the
2015 draft guidance and open them for
a significant public review and
comment period.
"If NOAA finds it necessary to
produce final guidance before the
process of incorporating any such
changes can be completed, it should
proceed with a final version of the 2015
draft guidance (revised, as appropriate,
based on previously submitted public
feedback), along with a user guide and
implementation tools as promised in
July 2015," the associations suggest. ❒

State AGs, Activists
Collude To Investigate
Climate Opponents,
Contends E&E Legal
WASHINGTON-E-mails obtained
under Vermont's public records law
show the offices of New York Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman "and other
politically-aligned attorneys general"
have teamed with anti-fossil-fuel
activists to investigate "groups whose
political speech challenged the global
warming agenda," charges the Energy &
Environment Legal Institute.
E&E Legal released the e-mails
following an April 13 Wall Street
Journal report about a January meeting
"in which groups funded by anti-fossilfuel Rockefeller interests met to urge
just this sort of government investigation
and litigation against their political
opponents," according to E&E Legal.
E&E Legal General Counsel David
Schnare says, "These e-mails show
Schneiderman's office suggested their
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