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U.S. regulators are seeking to rewrite guidelines on how to protect endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico before a December deadline, which could lead to Threat to oil and gas production In an area that supplies 2 million barrels of oil per day, or about 15% of U.S. crude production, according to Bloomberg. It was reported this week.
United States District Court Last month’s ruling The U.S. government’s main analysis of oil and gas activity in the Gulf under the Endangered Species Act — a 2020 “biological opinion” that outlined how drilling, pipeline construction and other operations could endanger protected species in the region — was flawed and did not adequately assess the risks posed by oil spills and ship strikes.
If regulators fail to complete their reviews by the Dec. 20 deadline, and if courts or Congress do not step in to provide more time, existing oil and gas operations that rely on the assessments could grind to a halt.
Environmental groups challenged the biological opinion four years ago, and last month a judge sided with them, rejecting the biological opinion and sending it back to the National Marine Fisheries Service for rewriting.
If a valid biological opinion is not reached by the deadline, energy regulators could have to consult on hundreds or even thousands of decisions a year, according to data they provided to the court.
The case is causing concern among some operators in the Gulf, who are concerned not only about the delay in government approvals but also about the viability of existing work authorized under the biological opinion that the court invalidated, Bloomberg reported.
According to the report, various operations are at stake, such as the movement of ships supplying fuel to offshore platforms to continued production at wells that have long been permitted.
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