Striding the Quarterdeck
Covering the most recent developments in national maritime jurisprudence and regulatory action, with a focus on issues that affect the inland and offshore industries in and around the Gulf of Mexico.
If You Can’t Beat’em, Join’em – The Coast Guard’s “Us Too” Regulatory Approach to Addressing Its Overlapping Jurisdiction with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)
In the wake of the Macondo disaster, regulation of the offshore industry on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has undergone profound change, both in terms of the agencies who regulate and the substantive regulations. Almost immediately after the April 20, 2012 blowout of the Macondo well, President Obama dissolved the former Mineral Management Services (MMS, a sub-bureau within the Department of the Interior, which was wracked with internal problems and corruption) and formed a new agency (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) that ultimately became two related agencies: (1) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which handles lease sales and permitting of OCS wells; and (2) BSEE, which handles regulation with regard to safety and operational requirements for activities on the OCS. While this overhaul of the former MMS was dramatic and comprehensive, it did not affect the traditional, historic jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) over vessels and certain aspects of other OCS facilities. read more…
All’s a Well That Ends a Well – The Developing District Split Regarding Whether Decommissioning Work “Pertains to a Well” for Purposes of the Louisiana and Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts
With the recent uptick in well decommissioning work in the Gulf of Mexico fueled by the so-called “Idle Iron Initiative” undertaken post-Macondo by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE, see Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) NTL 2010-G-05), decommissioning contractors and operators should be aware of the recent developing district court split within the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (EDLA) regarding whether plugged-and-abandoned (P&A’d) wells remain “wells” for purposes of the Texas and Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts (TOAIA, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §127.001 et seq., and LOAIA, La. Rev. Stat. §9:2780). read more…
