Healthy Gulf v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

The federal district court for the District of Columbia upheld a final rule adopted under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) in 2020 by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to regulate compliance with national ambient air quality standards under the Clean Air Act to the extent activities authorized under OCSLA “significantly affect the air quality of any state.” The court rejected environmental organizations’ claims that the final rule had kept in place “outdated and ineffective regulations,” rather than adopting significant changes in the 2016 proposed rule. The court found that the organizations sought to expand BOEM’s mandate beyond the “proper statutory mandate.” The court also rejected the organizations’ claims that BOEM’s cost-benefit analysis was arbitrary and capricious, that BOEM failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its decisions, and that BOEM failed to consider “important aspects of the problem of offshore oil and gas pollution.”

Environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia challenging a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) 2020 final rule on air quality control, reporting, and compliance. They alleged that the rule—which “scrapped” major updates proposed in 2016—“kept in place outdated and ineffective regulations governing air pollution from offshore oil and gas operations that were promulgated in 1980, rejecting significant changes that the Bureau had previously determined were needed to ensure compliance with its statutory mandates under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act [(OCSLA)].” The plaintiffs contended that BOEM did not provide reasoned explanations for retaining outdated regulations, including for its determination that it was unable to regulate methane pursuant to the OCSLA. The complaint asserted violations of OCSLA and the Administrative Procedure Act. The groups asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment, set aside and vacate the rule, and order BOEM to promulgate a new rule.