http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/03/suit_challenges_mississippi_de.html

Published: Friday, March 16, 2012, 6:13 AM
By Harlan Kirgan, Mississippi Press

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — A lawsuit filed by two environmental groups seeks to halt implementation of Mississippi Development Authority seismic and leasing rules for the state’s offshore waters.

The Sierra Club and Gulf Restoration Network filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the Hinds County Chancery Court.

The rules are scheduled to take effect today, according to MDA spokesman Dan Turner.

The suit states the rules are invalid because MDA failed to prepare a valid economic impact statement, and respond and analyze all of the public comments. The suit also states MDA did not balance private versus public trust interests.

“I think as an organization we have bent over backwards to try and get some relief out of the MDA and the agency has repeatedly ignored what I think are public interest groups’ concerns,” said Louie Miller, state director of the Sierra Club.

Those concerns included requesting additional time for public comment, he said.

Turner said he had not seen the suit and could not comment on it.

“But, I’m not sure what real purpose would be served by extending comment again,” he said. “We extended it once. It was 21 pages of rules. We had 43 days of comment period. We held two public hearings. We’ve met with every group that has wanted to meet with us and explained what we are doing and I don’t know exactly what the accomplishment would be at this point.”

The rules were published Dec. 19 and the comment public comment period closed Jan. 31.

Two public meetings on the issue attracted minimal interest, with a Jan. 26 meeting in Jackson drawing only one person and a Jan. 27 one in Gautier drawing only 25 attendees.

A total of 185 responses were received through meetings, letters and e-mails, Turner said after the deadline passed, but only a handful of the comments specifically addressed the draft rules and regulations.

Robert Wiygul of Ocean Springs, the attorney who filed the suit, said MDA is being asked to forward everything it did in putting the rules together to the court for review.

“We are really asking for a modicum of common sense to be applied,” he said. “The way these regulations are set up, oil and gas leases are going to be issued before there is an analysis of the impact on other resources, on other parts of the economy like tourism.”

The “appeal of rulemaking” suit asks the court to review MDA’s actions, he said.

“This is not a situation like a lot of civil cases where you have a verdict and one party wins, one party loses,” he said.

If the environmental groups’ challenge is upheld, the rules would be vacated and sent back to MDA for correction, Wiygul said.

A major objection raised, he said, is “this process allows commitment of public resources without considering impacts on other parts of the economy or environment.”

Gov. Phil Bryant and MDA maintain about 350 billion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered, which would provide $250 million to $500 million in royalty leases.

The lion’s share of the royalty money — 97.5 percent — would go to the state’s Educational Trust Fund.

The remainder of the royalty money would go to wildlife and habitat enhancement, oil spill recovery and administration of the mineral leasing program.

During a speech Monday in Biloxi to the Gulf Coast Energy Summit, Bryant said competing interests, such as tourism, would be protected as the offshore energy resource is developed.

“We can put it where it doesn’t disrupt the view of tourists that has come to that location,” he said. “We can specifically take that grid and say ‘here is where we ought to seek that energy opportunity.'”

All state waters were open to oil and gas exploration until 2004, when the Legislature limited it to about 186,000 acres, or about 38 percent of the state’s offshore waters.

The lease areas are confined to areas about a mile south of the barrier islands and on the state’s east and west boundaries.

The environmental groups announced the suit in a telephone news conference Thursday.

Opponents of natural gas exploation activity near the barrier islands, 12 Mile South Coalition, ralled Monday, March 12, before the Gulf Coast Energy Summit at the Mississippi Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi on Monday where Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum spoke. Shown from left, wearing red jackets, are Louis Skrmetta, Gulf Coast Attractions Association; Jeff Bounds,who wrote a study a consultant; and Louie Miller, state director of the Sierra Club. (Harlan Kirgan/Press-Register)

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57398631/activists-protest-finnish-arctic-drilling/
March 16, 2012 6:35 AM

HELSINKI – Greenpeace activists have boarded two Finnish icebreakers in Helsinki to protest oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Ocean.

Some 17 demonstrators boarded the icebreakers while others clambered onto cranes with banners demanding that Shell Oil Co. suspend plans to drill in the fragile northern waters.

Greenpeace activist Sini Saarela, who boarded the Fennica icebreaker on Friday morning, told the AP that the crew had been friendly to the protesters and they planned to end their action in the afternoon.

In November, Arctia Offshore Ltd. agreed to provide two Finnish icebreakers, the Fennica and Nordica, to support oil and gas production operations on the northern Alaskan coast in 2012 to 2014.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/2947c360f0ce4c0aa112ff8617ca7404/MS–Offshore-Drilling-Mississippi/

Columbus, Indiana
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: March 15, 2012 – 12:05 pm
Last Updated: March 15, 2012 – 12:06 pm

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Sierra Club and The Gulf Restoration Network have asked a Hinds County judge to block the state from enacting new regulations on offshore drilling.

Dan Turner, spokesman for the Mississippi Development Authority, says Thursday he has not seen the lawsuit and cannot comment.

The groups contend the process is moving too fast and hasn’t been properly studied and they have filed a lawsuit in Hinds County Chancery Court seeking to block the drilling regulations MDA has drafted.

State officials want to lease state waters in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas exploration. The groups say that means drilling rigs could go up near barrier islands and ruin the pristine areas.

The rules are to take effect this month unless stopped by a judge.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsworld.php?id=652182

Malaysia
March 14, 2012 17:11 PM

HAVANA, March 14 (Bernama) — Cuba has announced new customs regulations in a bid to boost offshore oil drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Gulf of Mexico.

The new rules which regulate personnel, goods and vehicles involved in oil exploration activities would take effect Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported local media as saying yesterday.

The move was part of the Caribbean island nation’s endeavour to revive the economy and become self-sufficient in energy.

The new rules are expected to boost foreign investments in oil sector as Spanish oil firm Repsol-YPF is going ahead with its drilling operations for its first deepwater well in Cuba’s EEZ in the Gulf, 50 km northwest of the capital city of Havana. The Operations began in mid January with the positioning of the chinese-made oil platform scarabeo 9.

Cuba’s EEZ covers an area of 112 square kilometers divided into 59 blocks for prospecting.

Cuban authorities claim to have rich oil reserves of more than 20 billion barrels in the northern waters of the Gulf, while the U.S. Geological Service estimates a more modest figure of 5 billion barrels, although its study did not cover the entire Cuban zone.

In addition to Spain’s Repsol-YPF, several other foreign companies have expressed interest in operating in the region, including Venezuela’s PDVSA, Vietnam’s Petro, and Norway’s Statoil.

Cuba’s oil offshore drilling plan in Gulf waters has irked the United States, which raised security and environmental concerns.

Cuba now produces about four million tons of oil and gas each year but the amount covers only half of the nation’s domestic need.
— BERNAMA

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/215981-oil-spill-commission

By Andrew Restuccia – 03/14/12 10:47 AM ET

Members of the national oil spill commission are reuniting to monitor the federal government’s progress in implementing a series of drilling safety recommendations put forward by the panel last year.

The seven-member commission, which was tasked by President Obama with investigating the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, is forming what it calls “Oil Spill Commission Action.”

The new group will issue a report in April assessing government and industry efforts to enhance safety and environmental standards in the aftermath of the spill, which dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf. The report’s release will coincide with the two-year anniversary of the April 20, 2010, disaster.

“The commissioners have become increasingly concerned that efforts to implement the recommendations are ebbing in spite of all that still needs to be done,” William Reilly, co-chairman of the commission, said in a statement.

The commission issued a report in January of 2011 citing “systemic” problems within the oil industry, warning that another disaster could occur without major reforms within both the industry and the federal government.

In the months after the spill, the Interior Department issued a slew of more stringent offshore drilling safety regulations and restructured the department’s offshore drilling arm. The oil industry is working separately to improve oil spill containment technology and ensure that companies are better prepared to deal with well blowouts.

But the commission said Wednesday that more action is needed.

“We intend to do our best to ensure that the public and other stakeholders do not lose sight of the problems we identified and the actions needed to mitigate future spills like the Deepwater Horizon,” Bob Graham, the commission’s other co-chairman, said in a statement.

Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke, a member of the commission, added, “If America is to have the safest operations in the fragile offshore environment, it’s essential that our recommendations be implemented. Vigilance and oversight of the oil industry are essential to the protection of the public’s interest.”

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/03/14/2436385/presidential-spill-panel-regroups.html

Bellingham Herald

POSTED: Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012
Presidential spill panel regroups to press reform
By DINA CAPPIELLO – Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The seven-member commission selected by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf oil spill is getting back together. This time, it will press for action to improve drilling safety.

The re-formed group, announced on Wednesday, plans to issue a report card on actions taken by Congress, the administration and the industry next month, around the second anniversary of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

“The commissioners have become increasingly concerned that efforts to implement the recommendations are ebbing in spite of all that still needs to be done,” said William K. Reilly, co-chair of the panel, and a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President George H.W. Bush.

Last January, the panel called for a series of steps to improve offshore drilling safety from boosting budgets and training at the agency that oversees drilling, to increasing the liability cap for companies drilling offshore.

But only one appears to have a chance in Congress: diverting 80 percent of the water pollution fines from the disaster to states affected by the spill. With high gasoline prices, the focus of Republicans and the White House in an election year has turned to boosting domestic oil and gas production.

The commission has been critical in the past of the administration and the industry. While the Interior Department under Obama has initiated widespread reforms and a massive reorganization, the panel concluded that the improvements made were modest, and highlighted mistakes made by the government in estimating the size of the spill.

On the industry side, the commission called for an industry-led safety institute, independent of the oil and gas industry’s main lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute. The API recently launched such a group, the Center for Offshore Safety. However, it is housed within API, which also selects the center’s chairman.

Oil Spill Commission Action, as the reconvened panel will be called, has received money from a foundation set up by the founders of Wal-Mart, but much of the work will be done on a volunteer basis, according to Toby Clark, a spokesman. It will operate as a project of Resources for the Future, a non-profit and nonpartisan group that conducts research into environmental issues.
—
Online: Oil Spill Commission Action www.oscaction.org
Follow Dina Cappiello’s environment coverage on Twitter
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/03/14/2436385/presidential-spill-panel-regroups.html#storylink=cpy
Special thanks to Richard Charter