About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

31 Alaska L. Rev. 231 (2014)
What about Boem - The Need to Reform the Regulations Governing Offshore Oil and Gas Planning and Leasing

handle is hein.journals/allr31 and id is 245 raw text is: WHAT ABOUT BOEM? THE NEED TO REFORM THE REGULATIONS GOVERNING OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS PLANNING AND LEASING MICHAEL LEVINE,* ANDREW HARTSIG,** AND MAGGIE CLEMENTS*** ABSTRACT The nature of offshore oil and gas activities is changing as companies are forced into difficult and remote areas, including the U.S. Arctic Ocean. As evidenced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy and Shell's error-plagued efforts to drill exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in 2012, the rules governing whether and under what conditions to allow offshore drilling in frontier areas have not kept pace with environmental and technical changes. These rules were implemented in 1979 and have remained substantively the same since. Recent changes to at the Department of the Interior to disband the Minerals Management Service, improve certain safety requirements, and move toward implementing Arctic-specific spill prevention and response requirements are important steps. Those changes, however, apply only after the decision to allow oil and gas activity has been made. Congress has not amended the governing statute, and the agency has not modified in any meaningful way the regulations that govern the initial processes through which it decides whether and under what circumstances to allow offshore oil and gas activities in a given area. This Article argues that the regulations that govern offshore oil and gas planning and leasing should be fundamentally revised to account for changes in the industry and agency, remedy broadly acknowledged deficiencies, and reflect new administrative policies. It also recommends a path to achieve the needed change. Copyright @ 2014 by Michael LeVine, Andrew Hartsig, and Maggie Clements. * Pacific Senior Counsel for Oceana, an international non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining and restoring ocean ecosystems. He lives and works in Juneau, AK. ** Director of the Arctic Program at the Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit marine conservation organization. He lives and works in Anchorage, AK. *** 2015 J.D. Candidate at New York University School of Law. The opinions and ideas expressed are her own and do not represent the views of the School of Law, her employers, or her supervisors.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most