The federal district court for the District of Columbia declined to compel the Secretary of the Interior and two other federal officials to update environmental assessments for the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure. The court concluded that although Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) had standing to bring the suit, the organization did not establish a discrete and mandatory duty that the court could order the defendants to perform. The court also found that the lawsuit presented an impermissible programmatic challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act. CBD’s 2024 lawsuit alleged that the Interior Department had “under-studied” environmental concerns associated with “delinquent and decommissioned-in-place infrastructure,” including “substantial risks to the Gulf, including oil spills, methane leaks, and the leaching of toxic chemicals.”

Lawsuit seeking to compel the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to conduct new environmental assessment of the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

Center for Biological Diversity v. Burgum

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D.C. Federal Court Declined to Compel New Environmental Review for Decommissioning of Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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D.C. Federal Court Declined to Compel New Environmental Review for Decommissioning of Offshore Oil and Gas Infrastructure

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector