by Glynn Wilson

The Minerals Management Service continues to approve new deepwater oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico even after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and a change in policy on drilling by the Obama administration, giving British Petroleum and other companies the right to drill even more wells under the same inadequate oversight regime that led to the current oil spill, according to a new legal challenge filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Defenders of Wildlife.

The groups say current policies create an incentive to allow drilling even in the face of evident risks because once a lease is issued by MMS, the U.S. government is obligated to pay the lessee either the fair market value of the lease or the amount spent to obtain the bid plus costs and interest if the government cancels the lease or refuses to allow drilling. MMS approved new leases for deepwater tracts as recently as June 10 under the same lax oversight complicit in the current Gulf spill.

“MMS quietly granted oil companies the right to drill 198 more deepwater wells as if the spill wasn’t devastating the Gulf,” said Derb Carter, senior attorney and director, Carolinas Office, Southern Environmental Law Center. “If it’s too deep to stop a spill, it’s too deep to drill. BP is under criminal investigation for its explosion and dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, yet MMS approved 13 new leases for BP to drill in deepwater without any better oversight.”

The groups’ lawsuit challenges MMS approval of leases, including 198 deepwater leases, in the Central Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 that led to the ongoing gusher that continues to wash up in Louisiana wetlands and on beaches in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

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SELC

by Glynn Wilson

Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile challenging the Minerals Management Service’s complicity in the Gulf oil disaster and continued lax oversight of oil drilling operations, including its failure to require a thorough examination of spill risks from exploratory drilling operations like the Deepwater Horizon.

The legal filing seeks to prohibit the MMS from continuing to exempt from environmental review new exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a joint press release from the two non-profit environmental groups.

“It’s unconscionable that after the Deepwater Horizon blew and began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, MMS continues to approve new drilling at even deeper depths without environmental review,” said Catherine Wannamaker, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Through our lawsuit today, we’re seeking an immediate halt to new exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico proceeding without environmental review.”

According to documents filed by the two groups in court, the MMS’ continued exemption of over 20 new structures and exploratory wells — including four at almost twice the depth (over 9,000 feet) of the one currently hemorrhaging in the Gulf of Mexico (almost 5,000 feet) — from environmental review of the risks after the current oil spill is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The agency’s continued issuance of these waivers -– known as categorical exclusions -– must be halted in light of the environmental harm caused by the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon spill.

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Glynn Wilson

Fog in Autumn on The Locust Fork River

In another challenge to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management’s failure to protect the purity of the state’s waterways, the Southern Environmental Law Center today petitioned for a hearing on the permit issued last month for a 3,255-acre coal mine in Blount County.

The proposed mine would have more than 60 pollution discharge points into the main stem or feeder streams of the Locust Fork, a tributary of the Black Warrior River that is already on ADEM’s list of the worst polluted streams in the state, mainly due to sediment.

The petition was filed on behalf of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper and The Friends of the Locust Fork River.

The law center already represents the Black Warrior Riverkeeper in an ongoing legal challenge of ADEM’s actions in permitting the Shepherd Bend coal mine in Walker County. In both cases, the agency has ignored federal and state laws and its own regulations, according to a press release..

“Ultimately, the problem goes beyond these projects, and lands squarely on the shoulders of ADEM which is consistently failing to protect water quality throughout the state,” SELC Senior Attorney Gil Rogers said. “The Rosa and Shepherd Bend coal mines are exhibit A.”

The Rosa coal mine permit is deficient in numerous ways. The mine would discharge pollution into a segment of Locust Fork which is listed by ADEM as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act. Alabama law prohibits causing or contributing to the pollution of an impaired water body. The agency acknowledged the impaired status of the Locust Fork in their permit rationale, but issued the permit anyway.

“ADEM needs to quit rubber-stamping these pollution permits and get serious about its role as the environmental regulator of coal mine operations,” Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said. “Our waterways are much too precious to be so utterly neglected and exploited.”

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