The federal district court for the District of Maryland denied a motion by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (Chevron), American Petroleum Institute, and other industry intervenor defendants to transfer environmental organizations’ challenge to a 2025 biological opinion (BiOp) and incidental take statement prepared under the Endangered Species Act to address federally authorized oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The intervenor defendants argued that the case should be transferred to the Western District of Louisiana where Chevron and American Petroleum Institute, along with the State of Louisiana, had filed a lawsuit challenging the 2025 BiOp. The Maryland federal court agreed with the intervenor defendants that the case could have been brought in the Western District of Louisiana but found that the intervenors did not establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the factors considered when determining whether to grant a venue transfer motion counseled in favor of transfer. In particular, the court afforded the plaintiffs’ choice of venue substantial weight because a portion of the “complained-of conduct” occurred in the District of Maryland, the location of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s headquarters. The court also found that the interest of justice factor weighed against transfer. Although the court agreed with the intervenor defendants that the cases presented similar legal issues and that there was a risk of conflicting rulings, the court found that those factors weighed in favor of retaining jurisdiction in this first-filed case. The court also was not persuaded that the case was “a local Louisiana dispute that is best decided by a Louisiana court.”

Challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s issuance of a new “Biological Opinion on the Federally Regulated Oil and Gas Program Activities in the Gulf of America” after the court set aside a previous biological opinion in 2024.

Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service

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Maryland Federal Court Denied Oil and Gas Industry Intervenors’ Motion to Transfer Endangered Species Act Challenge to Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Activities to Louisiana

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Maryland Federal Court Denied Oil and Gas Industry Intervenors’ Motion to Transfer Endangered Species Act Challenge to Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Activities to Louisiana

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