The 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program
Setting the stage for another catastrophic Gulf of Mexico environmental and judicial disaster
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing the availability of the Proposed Final Program (PFP) for the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2024-2029 Program, National OCS Program, or Program), as well as the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the 2024-2029 Program (Final Programmatic EIS).
Regrettably, the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program is moving forward. As explained below, this sets the stage for the possibility of another catastrophic Gulf of Mexico environmental disaster and subsequent MDL judicial disaster.
My following comment was posted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on July 26, 2022.
“A federal judge has ensured that the oil and gas industry will not be held strictly liable for damages resulting from an offshore oil well blowout.
The BP oil well blowout of April 2010 resulted in the largest environmental disaster in the history of the United States. An estimated 5.0 million barrels of crude oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The BP oil well blowout multidistrict litigation which commenced in August 2010 resulted in the largest federal judicial disaster in the history of the United States. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) centralized all federal actions (excluding securities suits) in MDL 2179 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. All cases relating to the BP oil well blowout were transferred to the Eastern District of Louisiana on August 10, 2010. Judge Carl J. Barbier, the transferee judge presiding over MDL 2179, knowingly circumvented the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA”), a strict liability statute, by:
(a) ruling that the case be designated as an admiralty or maritime case; and
(b) holding “OPA does not impose on the Responsible Party a duty to settle Plaintiffs’ claims…. OPA is intended to promote settlement….There is a wide chasm between a process that “promotes” settlement (what Congress enacted) and one that “requires” settlements (what the Plaintiffs apparently wish Congress enacted)….”
The precedent established by Judge Barbier is clear: A “Responsible Party” under OPA may now enter into a contract with a politically well-connected third party “Fund Administrator,” e.g., Kenneth R. Feinberg and Feinberg Rozen, LLP, d/b/a GCCF. This third party “Administrator / Straw Person,” directly and excessively compensated by the party responsible for the oil well blowout incident, may totally disregard OPA, operate the claims process of the responsible party as fraudulently and negligently as it desires for the sole purpose of limiting the liability of, and providing closure to, the responsible party, and the third party “Administrator / Straw Person” shall never be held accountable for its tortious acts.
I have represented victims of the BP oil well blowout and MDL 2179 since 2010.
For a clear understanding of why Judge Barbier circumvented OPA, a strict liability statute, read the Donovan v. Barbier, et al. civil RICO complaint.”
Attachments:
07/16/2022 OPA Article by Brian J. Donovan, Esq.
Donovan v. Barbier, et al. civil RICO complaint
Order Dismissing Feinberg Cases 07/02/2020 Doc. 26571