((Automatic translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto)) by Nate Raymond
At the request of environmental groups, a US judge overturned a federal agency’s assessment of how endangered and threatened marine species should be protected from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
On Monday, Greenbelt District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland ruled that the US National Marine Fisheries Service’s “biological opinion” was flawed and did not adequately address the risks to the species in the event of an oil spill or collision with ships.
The assessment was released in 2020 under former Republican President Donald Trump’s administration and was legally required for oil and gas exploration and drilling to be conducted.
The judge, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, said the assessment violated the Endangered Species Act. She criticized the agency for assuming that an oil spill like the disastrous Deepwater Horizon in 2010 would not occur.
Mrs. Boardman gave the agency until Dec. 20 to prepare a new announcement or “plan for future changes,” citing the risk that her decision, if implemented immediately, “disrupts oil and gas activities in the Gulf without necessarily reduce the dangers to the listed species”
The move was praised by environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, which argued in a 2020 lawsuit that additional protections were needed for whales, sea turtles and other endangered species.
“The court’s ruling confirms that the government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the widespread and ongoing harm that offshore oil and gas development is inflicting on wildlife,” said Chris Eaton, plaintiffs’ attorney at Earthjustice.
The Department of Fisheries did not respond to a request for comment.
Three oil industry trade groups, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Ocean Industries Association and the EnerGeo Alliance, intervened in the lawsuit to defend the statement along with oil major Chevron CVX.N.
In a joint statement, the trade groups warned of “disruptive consequences” for the US economy if a new biological meaning is not developed in a timely manner and said its release should be the “highest priority.”
Last year, Mr. Biden’s administration to cut 6 million acres of oil and gas auctions in the Gulf of Mexico to limit conflicts with the habitat of Rice’s whale, an endangered species. But the oil and gas industry and the state of Louisiana successfully sued to expand the auction.