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 The court rejected environmental organizations’ claims that the final rule had kept in place “outdated and ineffective regulations,” rather than adopting significant changes in the 2016 proposed rule.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.”

Challenge to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's 2020 final rule on air quality control, reporting, and compliance for offshore oil and gas operations.

Healthy Gulf v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

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Federal Court Rejected Challenge to Air Quality Regulation for Outer Continental Shelf Lands

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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Federal Court Rejected Challenge to Air Quality Regulation for Outer Continental Shelf Lands

Policy instrument

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector