Minerals Management Service's complicity in Gulf oil disaster challenged in court

Environmental review and safeguards required, says conservation groups’ filing

Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center today filed suit challenging the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) complicity in the Gulf oil disaster and continued lax oversight of oil drilling operations, including its failure to require a thorough examination of spill risks from exploratory drilling operations like the Deepwater Horizon. The legal filing seeks to prohibit the MMS from continuing to exempt from environmental review new exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

“It’s unconscionable that after the Deepwater Horizon blew and began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, MMS continues to approve new drilling at even deeper depths without environmental review,” said Catherine Wannamaker, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Through our lawsuit today, we’re seeking an immediate halt to new exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico proceeding without environmental review.”

According to documents filed by the two groups in court, the MMS’ continued exemption of over 20 new structures and exploratory wells—including four at almost twice the depth (over 9,000 feet) of the one currently hemorrhaging in the Gulf of Mexico (almost 5,000 feet)—from environmental review of the risks after the current oil spill is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.  The agency’s continued issuance of these waivers – known as categorical exclusions – must be halted in light of the environmental harm caused by the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon spill.  

“As demonstrated by the continuing disaster in the Gulf, the magnitude of potential damage posed by risky offshore drilling operations is just too great to require anything less than close scrutiny by a competent and discerning agency,” said Sierra Weaver, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “MMS should appreciate that as it oversees drilling projects off of U.S. shores, it holds the very health and safety of our oceans and coastal waters in its hands.”

The MMS 2004 guidance creating a categorical exclusion for exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico made clear that the exclusion should not apply to proposed operations in certain areas, including in “relatively untested deep water.” Yet, MMS granted Deepwater Horizon a categorical exclusion from environmental review despite the fact that the exploratory drilling was to take place in almost 5,000 feet of water.  Since the Deepwater explosion and spill and with no explanation, MMS authorized over 20 new categorical exclusions for exploratory oil drilling operations in the Gulf, at least eight of which would be at depths deeper than the Deepwater Horizon.
           
The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to prepare an in-depth environmental impact statement to fully analyze the environmental impacts of a proposed federal action significantly affecting the environment, as well as reasonable alternatives to that action that might have lesser environmental impacts.  That analysis forms the basis for the agency’s decision making, as well as whether to require further safeguards that will minimize environmental risks.

This is only the latest, though unfortunately the most environmentally devastating, example of MMS being institutionally incapable of ensuring any meaningful oversight of the oil industry. For years the agency has been too close with the oil industry for which it was issuing permits. During the Bush administration, Inspector General Earl Devaney detailed the agency’s “managerial irresponsibility and lack of accountability.”

Agencies are allowed to grant “categorical exclusions” from NEPA-required environmental analysis and documentation for certain activities, if it is determined that the actions “do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the environment.”

According to recent news reports, the current oil spill may be ten times greater than official estimates. Oil spills can devastate coastal and marine environments for years, damaging communities, beaches, critical wetlands and fisheries, and wildlife.

The groups also notified MMS that they would file suit against violations of the Endangered Species Act related to insufficient analysis of the impacts of exploratory drilling on threatened and endangered species.

The challenge was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama by Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Learn more about what Defenders is doing to halt offshore drilling operations in the U.S. 

Contact(s):

Catherine Wannamaker, attorney, SELC, 404-521-9900

Derb Carter, Carolinas director, SELC, 919-967-1450

Sierra Weaver, attorney, Defenders, 202-772-3274 

Richard Charter, senior policy advisor, Defenders, 707-875-2345

Note to editors:
A map of the new structures and exploratory wells approved by MMS since the Deepwater Horizon blowout is available to accompany press stories based on this release with appropriate credit by contacting ksullivan@selcnc.org.

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than one million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is the only regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of 40 legal experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.To learn more, visitwww.SouthernEnvironment.org.