Environmental Groups News

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will delay by two years a final rule designating protections for the endangered Rice's whale in the oil and gas drilling region of the Gulf of Mexico, according to an agreement with environmental groups filed in a federal court.The U.S. Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service agreed with green group Natural Resources Defense Council to finalize by July 15, 2027 the geographic area deemed critical for the Rice's whale survival. The previous deadline had been Tuesday, July 15, of this year.The agreement filed in the U.S.

The earliest wind farms installed in the EU are coming to the end of their planned 20-30-year lifespans.Current guidance, such as Article 60(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the OSPAR Commission’s Decision 98/3, indicates that decommissioning should involve the complete removal of all seabed installations. This is also specified in national law in some territories.However, there is ongoing debate over the potential advantages of partial removal, leaving some structures on the seabed.

Deep-sea mining firm The Metals Co asked the Trump administration on Tuesday to approve its plans to mine the international seabed, making it the first such company to seek the government's permission to operate outside U.S. territorial waters.Last week President Donald Trump signed an order aiming to jumpstart mining in both domestic and international waters in an attempt to boost U.S. access to critical minerals and reduce China's market control.The move ratchets up tension between Washington and the United Nations-backed International Seabed Authority…

President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting the deep-sea mining industry, marking his latest attempt to boost U.S. access to nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy.The order, which Trump signed in private, seeks to jumpstart the mining of both U.S. and international waters as part of a push to offset China's sweeping control of the critical minerals industry.Parts of the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere are estimated to contain…

Greece has submitted plans to the EU setting out how it will organise maritime activities such as fishing, tourism and offshore energy after years of delays that drew rebuke from the European Commission.In February the EU Court of Justice ruled that Greece had violated EU regulations by failing to draft a maritime spatial plan by March 2021. The European Commission had referred Greece to the court over the delays.Maritime spatial plans define where activities including fishing…

The White House is weighing an executive order that would fast-track permitting for deep-sea mining in international waters and let mining companies bypass a United Nations-backed review process, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations.If signed, the order would mark U.S. President Donald Trump's latest attempt to tap international deposits of nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy after recent efforts in Greenland and Ukraine.

A Scottish court has invalidated Britain's approvals for two major North Sea oil and gas projects, delivering a significant victory to environmental groups and raising uncertainty over future fossil fuel developments in the UK.The Court of Session in Edinburgh found that the government had unlawfully granted approval for Shell's Jackdaw gas field and Equinor's Rosebank oil and gas field by failing to consider the emissions generated when the extracted fuels are burned—known as downstream emissions.

The industry-leading fuel management systems from Fueltrax are typically installed by oceangoing vessels looking to cut costs, better manage their fuels, and reduce emissions. Now vessels that primarily operate on inland and near-coastal waterways are reaping the benefits as well.A major U.S. charterer and vessel owner has outfitted half a dozen of its vessels and is realizing the advantages. The operator uses the Fueltrax EFMS, the most widely deployed and effective system available.The Fueltrax EFMS is a state-of-the-art system designed and supported by former NASA engineers.

Advisers to U.S.President-elect Donald Trump are urging him to take a patient approach to restarting approvals for liquefied natural gas export licenses, fearing rapid approvals will only get overturned in court, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.The recommendations offer a preview of the challenges Trump will face as his bold campaign promises to slash regulation and unfetter industry crash into the reality of governing an unwieldy bureaucracy.In an election-year move…

Russia declared a regional state of emergency on Saturday in Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, as workers cleared tons of contaminated sand and earth on either side of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month.Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russia-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol, said new traces of minor pollution required urgent elimination and declared a state of emergency in the city - giving authorities more power to take swift decisions…

The maritime industry’s elusive quest to achieve so-called ‘zero’ emissions continues. Where it ends is not a one-size-fits-all discussion.The year-end maritime industry discussions tend to move away from global influence and back drift to national and domestic debates. As this happens, a positioning of a relatively small group of American owners and operators prepare for the upcoming business year and markets. The propulsion debate continues to be future fuels based upon sustainability and climate change.

U.S. liquefied natural gas developers awaiting permits for new export projects this week expressed confidence President-elect Donald Trump will ease the way for their multi-billion-dollar expansion plans.Their confidence is buoyed by Trump's promise to end an expanded Department of Energy review that has slowed new export permits. President Joe Biden had paused new non-FTA export permits and asked the DOE to more broadly evaluate the cumulative effects of new LNG projects' climate…

Esgian highlights news from TotalEnergies in its Week 40 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryDrilling Activity and DiscoveriesThe Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given Aker BP consent to use the 492-ft jackup Noble Invincible for production drilling on the Tambar Øst (East) field offshore Norway.TotalEnergies will resume exploration drilling in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the Tamboti prospect, located in Block 2913B north of the company’s Venus discovery.Aker BP has proven gas in appraisal well 6507/2-7 S in the Norwegian Sea…

Sustainability claims by MSC Cruises, including that it targets "net zero by 2050" do not meet standards, the Dutch advertising board found on Wednesday in one of the first decisions against a cruise operator following a greenwashing complaint.MSC, a privately held Swiss-Italian firm that is among the world's largest cruise operators, said in a reaction it welcomed some parts of the decision and had "already implemented most of the changes advised".Greenwashing entails a company giving a misleading impression of its environmental credentials.

U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminals on the Louisiana coast may have escaped the brunt of Hurricane Francine and put off a major test of their ability to withstand a direct storm hit to another day.Francine was on track on Wednesday to lash south-central Louisiana, east of Cameron Parish that is home to several of the newly operating projects, with 90 mile-per-hour (145 kph) winds. Three of the four largest U.S. LNG export facilities are in Louisiana."This hurricane seems to be avoiding the majority of the LNG facility corridor…

Britain's decision to issue dozens of new oil and gas exploration licences is being challenged in court by a marine conservation organization, which argues ministers unlawfully failed to consider the impact on marine life.Oceana UK is taking legal action over 31 licences issued under Britain's previous government in May this year as part of the North Sea Transition Authority's latest oil and gas licensing round.An exploration licence does not necessarily result in a producing field, though environmental groups argue that expansion of oil and gas production is inconsistent with the government's

At the urging of environmental groups, a U.S. judge threew out an assessment by a federal agency governing how endangered and threatened marine species should be protected from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, ruled the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Services' so-called "biological opinion" was flawed and did not adequately address risks species face from oil spills and vessel strikes.The assessment was issued…

Fishing has been a lifeline for Alejandro Alcones for the past four decades, but he now fears his small boat may be replaced by a floating solar farm on the Philippines' largest lake.Alcones is part of a group of fishermen opposed to the government's plan to place solar panels atop Laguna de Bay, one of the country's biggest sources of freshwater fish, as it looks for renewable energy sources to meet growing demand for power."Laguna Lake gives life and income to fishermen like us who didn't finish school.

A federal court in Alaska overturned on Tuesday night an oil and gas lease sale that had been mandated by the Biden administration's signature climate law as part of a political compromise, on grounds that the U.S. government violated the law when holding the sale.This ruling affects a lease sale held in December 2022 of offshore tracts for oil and gas development in the Cook Inlet in the northern Gulf of Alaska that had been mandated as part of a compromise to pass the 2022 Inflation…

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to federal regulatory power on Friday by overturning a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer, handing a defeat to President Joe Biden's administration.The justices ruled 6-3 to set aside lower court decisions against fishing companies that challenged a government-run program partly funded by industry that monitored overfishing of herring off New England's coast. It marked the…

Ships sailing through Arctic waters will no longer be able to use or carry heavy bunker fuel oil under a United Nations shipping agency regulation which took effect on Monday.Yet environmental groups say the ban does not go far enough in geographic scope or addressing dirty black carbon emissions from ships, which can darken white ice and speed up the melting wrought by climate change. The ban, adopted in 2021 by the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO), aims to prevent…

A South African appeals court on Monday suspended a previous ruling that halted offshore exploration by Shell along the unspoilt Wild Coast and allowed oil companies another chance at public consultation, court documents showed.The lack of public consultation was among key reasons why a lower court ruled against Shell and other oil companies Impact Africa and BG International.In a keenly watched decision, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) provided a lifeline to oil companies exploring along South Africa's coast…

Two companies said on Wednesday they are seeking offshore seabed acreage on the Norwegian continental shelf where they hope to explore for minerals, in what could be the start of a controversial new mining industry.The process puts Norway on track to become the first country to start commercial production from its continental shelf of metals useful in the transition from from oil and gas, such as copper, cobalt and zinc, as well as rare earth elements (REE).Nominations for acreage…